Developing Ecological Sensors for Real-Time Interpretation of Honeybee Communication

This paper reports early success in using systems theoretic approaches to develop a real-time interpreter for honeybee communication. Foraging Western honeybees share location information of prime food sources through a particular dance. In this work we develop algorithms that translate time-series data of the dancing bees' locations into parameter estimates of the relevant food sources. The resulting system becomes a component in a future ecological sensor, WaggleChat, for deeper research into bee communication, demonstration of social insect communication to a broad audience, and a first step toward a new, closed-loop approach to pollination control for both agriculture and broader ecological man-agement. Code, models, and more details are available at: https://gitlab.com/idealabs/hb-comm-interpreter.

I. Introduction

Sensors are a control system's window to the world. As such, the development of novel sensors enables the application of control systems in new and more varied scenarios. The aim of this paper is to establish the foundations for ecological sensors to visually interpret the communication of honeybees within their hives in real time.