Project description
Smart signals save the bees
There are around 630 000 beekeepers and 16 million hives in the EU, producing 234 000 tonnes of honey per year. This is not enough to quench Europeans’ demand for honey. What’s more, bees (and other pollinators) are under threat. They are declining in abundance due to intensive farming practices, mono-cropping, excessive use of agricultural chemicals and higher temperatures associated with climate change. Against this background, the EU-funded FOG project invented a chemical-free solution based on a controller software that can monitor and assess the status of ambient parameters (like temperature and lighting conditions). Next, a signal is sent to plants, animals, soil, etc. It has special characteristics for destruction of parasites, mould and other diseases.
Objective
There are 630,000 beekeepers in the EU, keeping about 16 million hives. These beekeepers are responsible for securing the regional pollination services and contribute to the social development of rural areas. Their challenge is keeping healthy bees even with the numerous stress factors, diseases, and parasites that honey bees are exposed to. Varroa destructor (formerly known as Varroa jacobsoni) is considered the most harmful honeybee parasite on a global scale and it is a real global epidemic.
The initial solution therefore could be honey import. The Union imports about 200,000 tonnes of honey every year, mainly from China, Ukraine, Argentina and Mexico. But by testing it was found that 20% of the samples taken at the external borders of the Union did not comply with EU standards. That is why the bee protection is the most important challenge for European beekeeping at present.
The basis of the technical solution in software of the controller which controls the status of outdoor parameters like temperature, vibration, working mode, luminosity, etc. The controller program will send the results of the assessment of these parameters to frequency generator module with the information about frequency range, timing of electric, acoustic and vibration signals. The signal is transmitted to agricultural plants, animals, soil etc. Such generated signal has a special characteristics for destruction of parasites, mold and other diseases. The innovation – frequency protector generator (“FOG”) is safe to bees, environmentally friendly, 99% effective. The patent application was submitted in 2017.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
962 63 PLIESOVCE
Slovakia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.