Bees are part of the global ecosystem and help humans, too. These social and hardworking insects are known to produce six various hive products. They include honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax, and venom. These products are all collected and utilized by human beings for their different nutritional and medicinal benefits. Honey, of course, is the most popular.
However, in some places, such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands, bees are on the verge of extinction.
Threats of extinction
According to information published on the Dutch news website NOS.nl, over 360 bee species exist in the county, one of which is the honeybee. However, honeybees here are a particular case since they are hardly found in the Dutch wild. However, people benefit every day from the work of these insects. For instance, about four out of five crops in Europe depend on these insects’ pollination activities.
But, it is also a fact that half of the bee species in this central European country are on the red list of endangered species. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, almost 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, face extinction.
Connected Bees
To mitigate this issue, companies like Cisco are taking the frontlines to launch projects that can help save these bees from extinction. For instance, Cisco launched the Connected Bees project.
Generally, the goal of this project by Cisco is to raise awareness of the essence of biodiversity by helping to sustain it. Today, the project utilizes Cisco rooftops to nurture bee colonies, ensuring that Connected Bees are happy on these venues, and the company also uses the honey the bees produce to raise funds for charities.
The technologies
As tackled earlier, Cisco utilizes various technologies to care for bee colonies.
Everything happens in a connected beehive. Like how smart buildings use cameras and sensors to monitor and regulate temperature, lighting, and other factors from the environment, this connected beehive also utilizes sensors and cameras to keep track of the temperature and humidity in the hive.
In the Cisco beehive, each time the door to the roof opens, a Meraki MT20 sensor placed on the door sends an alert to a Webex room to inform that somebody is near the beehive. The Meraki MT20 sensor is a Cisco technology capable of detecting if a door is open or closed using Bluetooth Low Energy beacons.
Next to this sensor on the door, there are also four Meraki cameras on the roof. These allow people to see exactly what’s happening at the hive’s entrance in real-time.
Real-time sharing of sensor data is achieved with Cisco’s MR76 access point, MX67 router, and MS120 switch also installed on the roof next to the beehive. The access points enable wireless connectivity for the sensors. At the same time, the MS120 switch provides Power over Ethernet for the sensors and wired connectivity, and the router, through the Internet, makes it possible to access the beehive from different locations worldwide.
Finally, there is a BEEP base automatic measurement system inside the beehive, keeping track of the hive’s temperature, weight, humidity, and sound frequency. People can access these via a dashboard.
“Throughout the years, the beehive has become more and more connected, using Cisco’s own technology and sensors,” Cisco stated.
What do you think of this technology?
