On the design of a bioacoustic sensor for the early detection of the red palm weevil

During the last two decades Red Palm Weevil (RPW, Rynchophorus Ferrugineus) has become one of the most dangerous threats to palm trees in many parts of the World. Its early detection is difficult, since palm trees do not show visual evidence of infection until it is too late for them to recover. For this reason the development of efficient early detection mechanisms is a critical element of RPW pest management systems. One of the early detection mechanisms proposed in the literature is based on acoustic monitoring, as the activity of RPW larvae inside the palm trunk is audible for human operators under acceptable environmental noise levels (rural areas, night periods, etc.). In this work we propose the design of an autonomous bioacoustic sensor that can be installed in every palm tree under study and is able to analyze the captured audio signal during large periods of time. The results of the audio analysis would be reported wirelessly to a control station, to be subsequently processed and conveniently stored. That control station is to be accessible via the Internet. It is programmed to send warning messages when predefined alarm thresholds are reached, thereby allowing supervisors to check on-line the status and evolution of the palm tree orchards. We have developed a bioacoustic sensor prototype and performed an extensive set of experiments to measure its detection capability, achieving average detection rates over 90%.We would like to acknowledge Michel Ferry and Susi Gomez (from Estacion Phoenix at Elche, Spain) for giving us access to their large RPW sound recording corpora and offering their cooperation during the development of this work. Finally, this work has been partially funded by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under grants CTM2011-29691-C02-01, TIN2011-28435-C03-01 and TIN2011-27543-C03-03.Martinez Rach, MO.; Migallón, H.; López Granado, O.; Pérez Malumbres, MJ.; Martí Campoy, A.; Serrano Martín, JJ. (2013). On the design of a bioacoustic sensor for the early detection of the red palm weevil. Sensors. 13(2):1706-1729. doi:10.3390/s130201706S17061729132Mukhtar, M., Rasool, K. G., Parrella, M. P., Sheikh, Q. I., Pain, A., Lopez-Llorca, L. V., … Aldawood, A. S. (2011). New Initiatives for Management of Red Palm Weevil Threats to Historical Arabian Date Palms*. Florida Entomologist, 94(4), 733-736. doi:10.1653/024.094.0401R. P. Haff, & D. C. Slaughter. (2004). REAL-TIME X-RAY INSPECTION OF WHEAT FOR INFESTATION BY THE GRANARY WEEVIL, SITOPHILUS GRANARIUS (L.). Transactions of the ASAE, 47(2), 531-537. doi:10.13031/2013.16022Nakash, J., Osem, Y., & Kehat, M. (2000). A suggestion to use dogs for detecting red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) infestation in date palms in Israel. Phytoparasitica, 28(2), 153-155. doi:10.1007/bf02981745Mielle, P., & Marquis, F. (1999). An alternative way to improve the sensitivity of electronic olfactometers. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 58(1-3), 526-535. doi:10.1016/s0925-4005(99)00158-6Control and Pest Management of Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus Ferrugineus) with Bioacoustic Methodshttp://www.laartech.biz/data/pdf/Control%20of%20Red%20Palm%20Weevil.pdfAcoustic Emission Consulting (AEC). AED-2000 Acoustic Detection Systemhttp://www.protecusa.biz/termatracaed2000L.htmlGutiérrez, A., Ruiz, V., Moltó, E., Tapia, G., & del Mar Téllez, M. (2010). Development of a bioacoustic sensor for the early detection of Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier). Crop Protection, 29(7), 671-676. doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2010.02.001Siriwardena, K. A. P., Fernando, L. C. P., Nanayakkara, N., Perera, K. F. G., Kumara, A. D. N. T., & Nanayakkara, T. (2010). Portable acoustic device for detection of coconut palms infested by Rynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Crop Protection, 29(1), 25-29. doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2009.09.002HUSSEIN, W. B., HUSSEIN, M. A., & BECKER, T. (2010). DETECTION OF THE RED PALM WEEVILRHYNCHOPHORUS FERRUGINEUSUSING ITS BIOACOUSTICS FEATURES. Bioacoustics, 19(3), 177-194. doi:10.1080/09524622.2010.9753623Mankin, R. W. (2011). Recent Developments in the use of Acoustic Sensors and Signal Processing Tools to Target Early Infestations of Red Palm Weevil in Agricultural Environments1. Florida Entomologist, 94(4), 761-765. doi:10.1653/024.094.0405Fiaboe, K. K. M., Mankin, R. W., Roda, A. L., Kairo, M. T. K., & Johanns, C. (2011). Pheromone-Food-Bait Trap and Acoustic Surveys ofRhynchophorus ferrugineus(Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Curacao1. Florida Entomologist, 94(4), 766-773. doi:10.1653/024.094.0406Pinhas, J., Soroker, V., Hetzroni, A., Mizrach, A., Teicher, M., & Goldberger, J. (2008). Automatic acoustic detection of the red palm weevil. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 63(2), 131-139. doi:10.1016/j.compag.2008.02.004JN5148 System-On-Chip Reference Datasheethttp://www.nxp.com/products/rf/wireless_microcontrollers/JN5148.htm

Smart Palm: An IoT Framework for Red Palm Weevil Early Detection

Smart agriculture is an evolving trend in agriculture industry, where sensors are embedded into plants to collect vital data and help in decision making to ensure higher quality of crops and prevent pests, disease, and other possible threats. In Saudi Arabia, growing palms is the most important agricultural activity, and there is an increasing need to leverage smart agriculture technology to improve the production of dates and prevent diseases. One of the most critical diseases of palms if the red palm weevil, which is an insect that causes a lot of damage to palm trees and can devast large areas of palm trees. The most challenging problem is that the effect of the weevil is not visible by humans until the palm reaches an advanced infestation state. For this reason, there is a need to use advanced technology for early detection and prevention of infestation propagation. In this project, we have developed am IoT based smart palm monitoring prototype as a proof-of-concept that (1) allows to monitor palms remotely using smart agriculture sensors, (2) contribute to the early detection of red palm weevil. Users can use web/mobile application to interact with their palm farms and help them in getting early detection of possible infestations. We used Elm company IoT platform to interface between the sensor layer and the user layer. In addition, we have collected data using accelerometer sensors and we applied signal processing and statistical techniques to analyze collected data and determine a fingerprint of the infestation

Recent Trends in the Early Detection of the Invasive Red Palm Weevil, <em>Rhynchophorus ferrugineus</em> (Olivier)

Red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier), is one of the most invasive pest species that poses a serious threat to date palm and coconut palm cultivation as well as the ornamental Canary Island palm. RPW causes massive economic losses in the date palm production sector worldwide. The most important challenge of RPW detection in the early stages of an infestation is the presence of a few externally visible signs. Infested palm shows visible signs when the infestation is more advanced; in this case, the rescuing of infested palms is more complicated. Early detection is a useful tool to eradicate and control RPW successfully. Until now, the early detection techniques of RPW rely mainly on visual inspection and pheromone trapping. Several methods to detect RPW infestation have recently emerged. These include remote sensing, highly sensitive microphones, thermal sensors, drones, acoustic sensors, and sniffer dogs. The main objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of the modern methods for early detection of the RPW and discuss the most important RPW detection technologies that are field applicable

Acoustic Signal Applications in Detection and Management of Rhynchophorus spp. in Fruit-Crops and Ornamental Palms

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) is an economically important, internally feeding pest of ornamental and fruit-producing palms in many subtropical regions. A related weevil, Rhynchophorus cruentatus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), is an internally feeding palm pest in the southeastern USA. Acoustic methods for detection of early instars hidden in palms in field environments have been investigated for both species. Acoustic methods also have been used to examine the effectiveness of physical, biological, and other control treatments. This report addresses several physical, physiological, and behavioral factors that influence the spectral and temporal patterns of sounds produced by palm weevil larvae under different laboratory and field experiment conditions, which must be considered carefully in interpreting larval sound production. Such factors include the leakage of fluid from the palm tree tissues into tunnels scraped out by larvae as they move and feed within the tree trunk, as well as occurrences of molting between periods of feeding activity, and frequency-dependent damping that distorts signals as the distance between insects and sensors increases. Methods are discussed that combine effects of environmental, physiological, and behavioral variability to facilitate reliable interpretations of Rhynchophorus and other insect larval acoustic activity in hidden environments.Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) es una plaga económicamente importante que se alimenta internamente de palmeras ornamentales y frutícolas en muchas regiones subtropicales. Un gorgojo relacionado, Rhynchophorus cruentatus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), es una plaga de la palma que se alimenta internamente en el sureste de los EE. UU. Métodos acústicos para la detección de estadios tempranos escondidos en palmas en ambientes de campo han sido investigados para ambas especies. Los métodos acústicos también se han utilizado para examinar la efectividad de los tratamientos físicos, biológicos y otros tratamientos de control. Este informe aborda varios factores físicos, fisiológicos y de comportamiento que influyen en los patrones espectrales y temporales de los sonidos producidos por las larvas del gorgojo de la palma en diferentes condiciones de laboratorio y experimentos de campo, que deben considerarse cuidadosamente al interpretar la producción del sonido larval. Tales factores incluyen la fuga de líquido de los tejidos de la palmera hacia túneles raspados por las larvas a medida que se mueven y se alimentan dentro del tronco del árbol, así como las ocurrencias de las mudas entre los períodos de actividad de alimentación y la amortiguación dependiente de la frecuencia que distorsiona las señales al aumentar la distancia entre los insectos y los sensores aumenta. Se discuten los métodos que combinan los efectos de la variabilidad ambiental, fisiológica y de comportamiento para facilitar interpretaciones confiables de la actividad acústica de larvas de Rhynchophorus y otros insectos en ambientes ocultos.We thank the Laboratory of Plant Pathology, University of Alicante, Glen Biotech S. L., the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Municipality of Elche, The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and the Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education for funding assistance

Sensors in agriculture and forestry

Agriculture and Forestry are two broad and promising areas demanding technological solutions with the aim of increasing production or accurate inventories for sustainability while the environmental impact is minimized by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmental friendly agronomical practices. In addition, the immediate consequence of this “trend” is the reduction of production costs. Sensors-based technologies provide appropriate tools to achieve the above mentioned goals. The explosive technological advances and development in recent years enormously facilitates the attainment of these objectives removing many barriers for their implementation, including the reservations expressed by the farmers themselves. Precision Agriculture is an emerging area where sensor-based technologies play an important role.RHEA project [42], which is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement NO.245986, which has been the platform for the two international conferences on Robotics and associated High-technologies and Equipment mentioned above.Peer Reviewe

CURRENT STATUS, CHALLENGES, MANAGEMENT AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES OF THE RED PALM WEEVIL Rhynchophorus ferrugineus OLIVIER (COLEOPTERA, CURCULIONIDAE) ERADICATION - A REVIEW

The date palm is a cultural and economic heritage of many nations. The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) is among the world’s most serious insect pests of palms that have rapidly expanded its geographical distribution and host plant range during the last decades. Integrated pest management (IPM) is followed to suppress the pest using the most economical and least hazardous methods to humans and the environment. Since R. ferrugineus is a serious pest of date palm production worldwide, farmers, researchers, and scientists have developed many tactics to eradicate this pest. However, there was no published article covering and integrating the current status, biology, ecology, and future control tactics of R. ferrugineus and proposes an IPM program. Therefore, in this review, R. ferrugineus geographical distribution, host plant range, economic importance, infestation symptoms, morphology, biology, and its management tactics were thoroughly discussed. These tactics include early detection of R. ferrugineus infestation, trapping, chemical applications, use of bio-agents, bioinsecticides (plant extracts), resistance cultivars, cultural practices, sterile insect technique, gene silencing technology, quarantine, and geographical information system. In conclusion, all available control tactics suggest that R. ferrugineus could be successfully managed by developing IPM programs comprising several means of control. It is hoped that this review will highlight some aspects of date palm management and raise research gaps and directions deserving further investigations to develop a better understanding of R. ferrugineus management and therefore contributes to the sustainability of date palm cultivation worldwide

Automatic Large Scale Detection of Red Palm Weevil Infestation using Aerial and Street View Images

The spread of the Red Palm Weevil has dramatically affected date growers, homeowners and governments, forcing them to deal with a constant threat to their palm trees. Early detection of palm tree infestation has been proven to be critical in order to allow treatment that may save trees from irreversible damage, and is most commonly performed by local physical access for individual tree monitoring. Here, we present a novel method for surveillance of Red Palm Weevil infested palm trees utilizing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, with aerial and street-level imagery data. To detect infested palm trees we analyzed over 100,000 aerial and street-images, mapping the location of palm trees in urban areas. Using this procedure, we discovered and verified infested palm trees at various locations

THE RED PALM WEEVIL IN THE UAE: MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND RNAI-MEDIATED GENE SILENCING OF TWO CUTICLE-RELATED GENES

Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), threatens palm trees worldwide. A better understanding of this insect can help with designing an adequate management strategy. This study aimed to a better understand the morphological diversity of RPW and examined RNAi-mediated gene silencing of two cuticle-related genes, vestigial (vg) gene, and Laccase (Lac2) gene by injecting the last larval stage with double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). For the morphological diversity study, adults of RPW were collected and classified by their prothoracic spots. Additional morphological characters were measured such as Pronotum Length (PL), Pronotum Width (PW), Elytra Length (EL), Elytra Width (EW), and total Length (L), as well as observing the density of the hair-like structure on the male rostrum. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, scatterplots to present data distribution within the typologies, box-and-whisker plots to show the distribution of the body length, Student t-test conducted to compare the body length (TL) between typologies, and percentage to reflect hair-like structure density. For RNAi experiments, total RNA was extracted and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was prepared to inject the RPW larva. For vg gene, two doses were used (1,800 ng and 5,600 ng), and 5,600 ng for Lac2 gene. To measure the expression level, quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed. The morphological study showed the presence of seven prothoracic spot typologies and addressed the morphological differences and the three levels of rostral setae on the male\u27s rostrum. Besides that, dsRNA had successfully silenced the vg and lac2 genes in R. ferrugineus, resulting in adults emerging with developmental abnormalities that can affect the insect\u27s survival and reproduction

Conservation Strategy for Palm Groves: Optimal Chemical Control Model for Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is an invasive pest species that constitutes one of the most important problems around the Mediterranean region and has been responsible for the loss of over 100,000 palm trees with an estimated annual cost of EUR several hundred million since its introduction into Europe. Methodological approaches of conservation ecology, such as multidisciplinary modelling, also apply in the management of cultural landscapes concerning ornamental plants, such as palm trees of the area. In this paper, we propose a dynamic model for the control of the red palm weevil, contributing in this way to the sustainability of an existing cultural landscape. The primary data set collected is a sample from the density-time function of a two-cohort pest population. This data set suggests a bimodal analytic description. If, from this data set, we calculate a sample from the accumulated density-time function (the integral of the density-time function), it displays a double sigmoid function (with two inflections). A good candidate for the analytical description of the latter is the sum of two logistic functions. As for the dynamic description of the process, a two-dimensional system of differential equations can be obtained, where the solution’s second component provides the analytical description of the original density-time function for the two-cohort population. Since the two-cohort waves appear in all three cycle stages, this reasoning applies to the subpopulations of larvae, pupae and adults. The model fitting is always performed using the SimFit package. On this basis, a mathematical model is proposed, which is sufficiently versatile to be of help in the control of this pest species in other geographical areas

Sensors in Agriculture and Forestry

Agriculture and Forestry are two broad and promising areas demanding technological solutions with the aim of increasing production or accurate inventories for sustainability while the environmental impact is minimized by reducing the application of agro-chemicals and increasing the use of environmental friendly agronomical practices. In addition, the immediate consequence of this “trend” is the reduction of production costs