Yesterday, ten years of research finally culminated in delivery of our new Smart Phone app for iPhone and for Android.  The app is in both the iPhone and Android Stores, undergoing Private Beta Testing.  The purpose of this announcement to Bee-L is to establish the date and to announce the progress of this line of our research.
 
In the early 2000s, we worked with the US Army to produce an early warning system for the release of toxic gases using colonies of bees. The sensor consisted of the sounds that the bees produced when exposed to a chemical cloud.  The Army wanted a warning within 15-20 minutes of gas release.  We managed detection in less that 15 seconds.  Not only that, but surprisingly, the sounds produced by the bees, often almost instantaneous, differed by chemical.  Each chemical type induced a different sound.  The comment was - GC/MS capability with a bee!  We were nominated for a National Innovation award for this work. 
 
We then took this technology forward to looking for sick colonies of bees.   We have seven colony health conditions that we've been able to detect with 86-96% accuracy.
 
Our initial work required high-end digital recorders, special microphones, and desk top computers running AI systems.
 
In 2012, the release of Raspberry Pi, credit-card sized computers with low cost and power draw enabled us to design, build, and test hand-held scanners with immediate feedback to the user.  We built 12 units, sent most of them to beekeepers.  No one in the US sent any data back - although we did get data from NZ and Australia.  We did get back the units for repair, so that they could be put back into use.  Unfortunately, the repairs were often for something such as - the truck ran over the unit and it broke!  We tried finding an investor to help commercialize, but the idea was too risky/radical.  Randy calls it Buck Rogers technology.
 
We went back to the drawing board, but the obvious technology (Smart Phones) did not have the required processing speed, data storage, etc. to run the analyses. 
 
However, with iPhone 5 and the newer Android phones and tablets, we finally have a platform that should work.  And we learned a lesson, don't depend on anyone to take the time to send back data.  
 
Our apps will protect the anonymity of anyone using them- in fact, we don't want names or emails.  If the user allows, the app will automatically forward all recordings and data files to a Cloud site.   No cell service in the apiary -that's not a problem.  The user gets a diagnostic report on location.  Once within range of a cell tower, the data gets uploaded to our Cloud server.  It's all automatic.  And for users who want reports, such as a field manager for a multi-state commercial operation, we can set up private accounts and have every crew member's report for every day about every colony's scan sent to the manager - who hopefully can sit in a comfortable chair in an air conditioned office, review the reports, and issue work orders for the following day; i.e., prioritize colonies that need to be re-queened, inspected, treated, etc.
 
We were smart enough to understand that researchers weren't necessarily good app designers - so we hired one.  The resultant app is simple, icon-based, easy to use with more or less no instructions needed.   Language shouldn't be a barrier, and where needed, it would be simple to translate.
 
Monday evening, for the first time, I had both an iPad and an Android tablet with the APP installed, one in each hand, and the app appeared to work on both.  This morning, I spent time with our developer fixing some minor issues, and this afternoon, I released the first copies to a very small, experienced, group of reviewers/beta testers.  Over the next few weeks, we will be testing the APP with our bee colonies and nearby commercial colonies.  
 
What we don't know at this time, and what we couldn't determine without the app is whether the internal microphones, audio cards, and various brands of phones and operating systems will be up to the task, or whether we have to use external microphones and audio cards.
 
Once we decide on which phones/tablets, microphones, etc will work best for data acquisition, we can start more serious beta testing.  I've about 100 graduates of our three year Master Beekeeping program and a select group of commercial beekeepers waiting for the broader release and Beta testing.
 
At this time, I've an untested app, a data uplink system that can accommodate up to 100,000 uploads per day, a secure, Cloud-Based database, and a new Public/Private Blog site for data sharing, questions, answers, discussions, etc.
 
We've also got US and Canadian patents on the application of acoustic scanning to pest, disease, and pesticide detection.  Some years ago, I registered our Forum and APP names, so as to avoid any accusations that we were impersonating someone else.  For example, there's a Bee Alert app from Brazil that ignored the fact that our research group has been named Bee Alert since the 1980s, and our company, Bee Alert Technology, Inc. has been around since 2005.  I'm not too worried about the Brazilian app, if it works, maybe we'll get credit?  Actually, its an effort to map bee losses with most of its data from Brazil, and most of the app is in Portuguese. 
 
Note, there is also an APP from Spain that uses acoustics to detect possible swarming (the Eddie Woods approach) and overall colony size, as do some of the Scale Hive folks like Arnia.  In addition, there are a couple of apps trying to look at bee activity using sound.  Our systems use a very different approach to analyzing the data and reporting, and we are interested in different end points.  We would be the first to agree that sound can tell us lots of things about bees.  Actually, we're glad they're looking at sound - see Randy - we're not alone.
 
Finally, a big shout out to Medhat and the beekeepers from Alberta.  They've put together iPhone and Android versions of a free APP that's essentially a bee pest and disease brochure with pictures, descriptions of the disease/pest/parasite/predator, and treatments in a very clear and simple to use free APP.  With their permission, we will direct users of our acoustic diagnosis app towards their visual catalogue of pests and diseases.  And Medhat, I'd like you to be one of our testers - do you still have a varroa farm?

Basically, I'm a pessimist - I wasn't sure I'd live long enough to see this technology come forth.  I am fortunate that I can now count this among career milestones - first landscape pollution monitoring/citizen science project using bees published in Science, first published use of Kriging geo-statistics for biological studies, first team to see bees actually find buried land mines, first decimeter resolution LIDAR forager bee location mapping instruments, and now, hopefully, the first APP that listens to what the bees are telling us about their colony health.  I got to do a happy dance this week- although in private.  No one wants to see an old gizzer hoppng around.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Smart Phone technology will be up to the task.  We will keep you posted.  And no, we're not ready to go public yet.  I wanted this group to know that we've made significant progress.  We will publically announce the APP when we're sure it works.  I've the bird in hand, let's see if it flies.
 
 
J.J. Bromenshenk
Bee Alert
Missoula, Mt
 
 




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