PIC Your Beehive
As researchers scramble to find answers, an estimated 14 billion U.S. dollars in agricultural crops in the United States that are dependent on bee pollination might be in need of a government bee bailout. Dave Hackenberg was the first beekeeper to report this non-activity with his hives. "There were no dead bees, no bees on the ground, just empty boxes." "In almost 50 years as a beekeeper, I've never seen anything like it." Hackenberg said.
Carl the Beekeeper uses a PIC32 as the system controller for his project, monitoring and analyzing for all variable factors of the hive while providing a detailed log. The PIC32 will be used to monitor these conditions:
• Outside the hive ambient conditions
• Inside the hive environmental conditions
• Health of the hive (brood size and bee traffic)
• Bee behavior for swarm management, detection / prevention
• Honey production
• Security of the hive
• Self diagnostics (temperature and voltage levels of the system controller, and functionality of sensors throughout the beehive)
These are just some of the hive conditions the PIC32 can be responsible for:
• Ventilation
• Temperature (heat or cool)
• Entrance opening for hive protection against predators
• Rain simulation (to keep bees inside hive)
• Induce vibration, smoke and sound in the hive to measure bee behavior patterns
To learn more about this project, visit Carl’s PIC32 Design Challenge Entry PIC’n The Beehive
Other Source: National Geographic
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