2021 InsectSound

Significant losses occurred in rice storage predominantly caused by insect pests to as high as 10% in terms of quantity. Detection of insect pests in stored grains is important to reduce losses and combat hunger. Several systems are available in the market such as automated monitoring of insect populations that is equipped with temperature sensors but the challenge is that these are not very reliable in early detection of insect populations and manual method is laborious. Often, this lead to huge losses because counter measures are implemented too late. An acoustic system for early detection of insect pest in stored wheat and rye(InsectTap) has been developed by the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kassel. Further works need to be done to adapt the system for application to rice. The software developed can classify sound patterns of insect pests on species level which is relevant in implementing appropriate control measures. The InsectTap can be modified with thorough study on the sound patterns of storage pests in rice. The proposed project aims to achieve the following - (1) thouroughly study and document the sound patterns of insect pests in stored rice and develop a handheld acoustic measurement system to detect the insect pest species; (2) establish a working prototype that can be developed for small and large scale applications; (3) develop and test the sensors and interfaces that can be used with mobile phones; and (4) assess potential application in other systems such as hermetic storage or grain cooling.Significant losses occurred in rice storage predominantly caused by insect pests to as high as 10% in terms of quantity. Detection of insect pests in stored grains is important to reduce losses and combat hunger. Several systems are available in the market such as automated monitoring of insect populations that is equipped with temperature sensors but the challenge is that these are not very reliable in early detection of insect populations and manual method is laborious. Often, this lead to huge losses because counter measures are implemented too late. An acoustic system for early detection of insect pest in stored wheat and rye (InsectTap) has been developed by the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kassel. Further works need to be done to adapt the system for application to rice. The software developed can classify sound patterns of insect pests on species level which is relevant in implementing appropriate control measures. The InsectTap can be modified with thorough study on the sound patterns of storage pests in rice. The proposed project aims to achieve the following - (1) thouroughly study and document the sound patterns of insect pests in stored rice and develop a handheld acoustic measurement system to detect the insect pest species; (2) establish a working prototype that can be developed for small and large scale applications; (3) develop and test the sensors and interfaces that can be used with mobile phones; and (4) assess potential application in other systems such as hermetic storage or grain cooling.

responsible : Carlito Balingbing 

in cooperation :  ATSAF and IRRI