Researchers at Sharif University of Technology have developed smart hives for better beekeeping. The Nové startup team, led by Dr. Amin Rezaiezadeh, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, and Dr. Mehdi Shahrdad, Assistant Professor of Electronics Research Institute of Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, has developed a smart beehive, Kando 1+ benefiting from IoT (Internet of Thing).
A smartphone application connected to the smart hive helps beekeepers stay informed of the latest status of the hive. The new beehive monitoring system would help beekeepers take the best and most appropriate action when keeping bees and hive conditions healthy becomes a challenge. The system is easy to use and proved to be beneficial even for unprofessional beekeepers with little knowledge of beekeeping.
The smart beehive is connected to a controller hive that establishes the communicates between the server and cellphone and is responsible for collecting information from temperature, humidity, weight sensors and microphones installed within the hive. In time of any threat, this system is also capable of sending security alarms to the owner. While beekeepers usually record the activities manually, using the smart beehive management software the information is recorded and analyzed electronically. Using the timely collected information, for instance on nectar-gathering time and weather forecasts and analyzing them, the appropriate actions could be taken and as a result the efficiency and productivity be increased.
The development of smart hive is the outcome of a one-year research of a team of 8 people whose research is focused on advanced automation and control, signal processing and machine learning.
