From
studies of biologists working in different areas, it is known, that the “language”
of all animals is very limited, and is a set of sounds that have different
meanings in different situations. And the task of these signals is mainly to
draw attention to the position or actions of the individual issuing the signal.
Bees
also make sounds and create vibrations. This is a part of their
"language". There are also tactile contacts and pheromones. But the
man has begun to listen to the bees, and
to try to understand them long time ago. Ear, stethoscope, Apidictor and
finally the device named Apivox Smart
Monitor
The
mechanism of the creation of vibro-acoustic signals by the bees and their
perception are already well studied. There are some situations in which
vibro-acoustic signals are used - during the dance of foragers (this is the
most famous and prominent example), during the "singing" of the
queens and the "singing" of worker bees. But so far, there has not
been a coherent theory of how the bees use these sounds and vibrations, their
significance in various situations is not known, and their exact parameters are
not well known. The system of constructing of these vibro-acoustic signals is
not known too.
The
Apivox project went precisely along this path.
We went on the way of trying to understand, how the signals of bees are
arranged, and what they mean in different specific situations. Four years of
researches and tests, a bunch of analytical studies were conducted. It was
created the device, named Apivox Auditor. It is allowed to begin instrumental
research of sounds of bees. With its help, we accumulated new information, the
analysis of which led to the creation of a new theory of vibro-acoustic
communications in bees. It has become a part of the Manual for the device, and
everyone can read and download it on our Website.
The fact
that in the development of the device was involved a former military engineer -
developer of electronic
technologies, the specifics of which was
signal processing, led to the development of the technical basis for the
analysis of sounds of living beings, including the bees. It became clear, why
no one could get clean and clear signals from the bees, and could not analyse
them correctly - the true signals from bees are very short. The fact is, that
the signal of bee lasts less than a half second. And when they are studied with
the help of Fourier algorithms, arise effects, with which are fighting experts in combat radio-location systems!
Moreover, it is the fact, that the set
of signals, which was considered to be
the “language” of bees, turned out to be a set of heating, ventilation, and
other " technical" signals. And all this was taken into account in
the further work on the Apivox bees signals analysis algorithms.
The
new theory and its verification led us to an understanding of what scientists
and the developer of the first device, Eddie Woods, could previously only guess
about.
• That the
ventilation signals can provide information about the state of the family and
its work on honey collection.
• That the
signals that Woods called "Singing of Beehive" are actually not
emitted by unemployed bees, but by bees, caring for open brood.
• That
these signals really become much more before swarming, as before swarming the
family should increase its power and so, to
increase the amount of brood.
• That
these signals actually become more with a loss of the queen, as the bees
increase the care for the remaining open brood, before laying new queen cells.
They need a lot of larvae and in different places, and therefore the entire
open brood for the family is of great value.
This is why the care for open brood is rapidly increasing...
• It became
known that this signal in the normal family has a cyclical nature, and with
loss of the queen, when working bees begin to lay unfertilized eggs, the signal
keeps constantly, although it has less power. This signal is emitted by the
bees, who care for the larvae of future drones which are many and scattered
randomly across all the frames ...
• That
there are signals directly related to the heating of the nest and the entire
hive. They were considered to be the signals of passive bees, as they are
emitted by worker bees, which are almost inconspicuous, and are sitting at the
bottom of the frames, outside the brood zone ...
• That it
is this signal, that becomes the main before swarming, when the bees begin to
heat the entire hive so that the queen can lay as many eggs as possible
wherever possible, including in the queen cells scattered across different
frames. So, exactly this signal, became
the main marker of close swarming.
• That
there is an emergency heating signal when the bees are struggling to restore
the temperature in the nest or winter cluster. Sometimes this signal can be
seen in summer in a weak offshoots, in which there are too few bees for warming
the brood and queen cells in the ordinary way.
•
Understanding how and why the bees warm the nest, especially before swarming,
at the moment when the bees begin to prepare for laying the queen cells, gave
clear understanding of the need of warming the hives at this particular time,
in order to give the family possibility to use early honey harvest. After all,
only old flight bees torn from the honey collection for this purpose, are
engaged in heating the hive.
In addition
to all this, was formed a harmonious classification of true communicational
signals of bees, which they use mainly when working on honey collection: These are groups of communicational signals —
signals of bees scouting forages, signals of foraging bees calling others to a
source of nectar, signals of bees discharging nectar, signals of recruits,
which are ready to become foragers, the "chanting" of worker bees or
foragers, who could not wait more for discharge of nectar, and calling for
bees-receivers. These are marker signals indicating what bee is doing or a
cluster of bees doing. It is the marker signals, in our opinion, that make it
possible to organize better the group work of bees, which strictly depend on
their age. Analyzing such signals, the bee turns on its decision-making algorithm and analyze
if she can take part in this work according to her age, or not ...
Studying
these signals, we learned to single out the groups of signals, which are of
interest to us and, on their basis, to qualify the essential state of the bee family
- the presence of in-hive works or works on honey collection. We learned to
understand their relative strength. Analytical studies were carried out, that
gave an understanding of the best place to take measurements at different times
of the year, and the best time to take measurements that allow you to
understand the condition of the family.
All
this formed the basis of the new version of our app - in Apivox Smart Monitorapp. In this device ( or app), in addition to the well-proven modes - the General
State Control mode, the Swarming Control mode, and the modes used when
replacing the queen, new modes useful for practical beekeepers were added...
These are - the Brood Control mode for checks in the spring and autumn, and the
Readiness for Commodity Honey Collection Control mode, to check the working
condition of the family in the summer. All these modes has expanded the capabilities of the device
and allowed to make comprehensive control of the families, using several modes,
which allow to look at the situation from different sides ...In order to have
such possibilities, there were made seven different modes, and their winter
version.
We can
refer to many examples and to show video films, accumulated over the years of
researches, but you can do this by yourself. All of them are freely available.
All methods of analyzing the state of families and examples of inspections are
described in the Manual for the device. And you can watch it in Internet or
download it from our web page and read it.
The
Apivox Smart Monitor app is made for smartphones based on the Android operating
system and this limits its use to those who ue iOS based smartphones, i.e.,
iPhone owners. But, this year, Apivox' algorithms were tested on recordings of
the sounds of families of bees. We worked remotely with the apiary, located in Argentina. The result was excellent. Properly
recorded sound provides enough information for qualitative analysis, and for
issuing of adequate recommendations to the beekeeper in near real time in any
end of the World. This opportunity formed the basis of the System of Remote
Diagnostics, developed by us, which is now used in test mode and is waiting for
interested people for further development.
Once again
I want to emphasize that Apivox Smart Monitor is just a device, and not a
beekeeper's substitute. Its task - is to give you the facts, that you can not
see without opening the hive, and sometimes are not visible even if you open
it. After all, even if you open a hive 2-3 weeks before swarming, you will not
know that the process has already begun, or if you open a hive of a perfectly
flying family, you will not understand that it works only for itself and not
for you, because it has too much brood, which it is necessary to feed and warm
... And so on, and so far ...
So
Apivox will give you the facts. Their further interpretation is already a
business of the beekeeper - your business. The point of your mind, knowledge
and experience. We give you the Manual - and this is already very much, but the
basis of understanding what is happening in the bee family is the level of
general theoretical and practical knowledge of the beekeeper, is his ability,
basing on the facts given by the device, to build a complete picture of the
condition and needs of the bee family, which he check.
ApivoxSmart Monitor app can always be purchased through our main site or dealer. And
the price for years of researches and tests is almost symbolic. Apart from
this, it is possible to collectively connect to the Remote Diagnostics System,
on the basis of a separate agreement.
So,
we expect that the progressive ideas will finally look into beekeeping science,
and will lead it on the path of real protection and preservation of bees on
Earth.
