Integrated Orchard

Safeguard

Overview

Current method of applying entomogenous fungal pesticides is to suspend fungal spores into a solution and introduced through large-scaled spraying. However, with genetically engineered fungi, the contemporary biopesticide deployment method risk damaging the eco-system from the residual fungi. Our project is divided into two main focuses. While our team members in wet lab aim to design a killing switch circuit to decrease the environmental risk of genetically engineered fungus from within the organism. Our prototype team try to avoid the risk of large-scaled pesticide spraying by designing and building an Integrated Orchard Safeguard system centered around our prototype bait trap.

In modern bait traps, the bait only attract B. dorsalis. However, it is female flies that is responsible for the species' high reproductiveness and destructiveness. This is why we designed the bait trap to attract, infect, and release male flies to allow M. anisopliae infection of female flies via copulation. The IR counter, another feature of our prototype, record and provide information including pest population size and meteorological data, such as temperature and humidity. Furthermore, farmers can monitor their orchards with a smartphone app that receives data from the IR counter.

We present the Integrated Orchard Safeguard, a informative defense system that links our bait trap, IR counter, and smartphone app.

Bait Trap

After the bait trap receives the population size of oriental fruit fly from IR counter, it will then automatically regulate the frequency of spraying the fungal solution and the length of the door opening time.

Design

1. The First Layer – Microcontroller, Power

晶片設計圖

2. The Second Layer – Motor

We use ULN2003 motor to control the string and let the door go up or down.

3. Drawer – Entrance, Atomization Device

Flying from bottom to up is one the behavior of oriental fruit fly. Thus, we set the entrance at the bottom of the trap make the oriental fruit fly not able to run out. The grower can pull out the drawer to supplement the methyl eugenol(a pheromone precursor) to maintain the attraction for oriental fruit fly. The atomization device in the drawer sprays fungal solution to infect the oriental fruit fly.

Features

1. Specificity - Methyl Eugenol

Methyl Eugenol is the pheromone precursor of oriental fruit fly. It will only appeal to male oriental fruit fly. The male oriental fruit fly will stop and fly away once they consume enough Methyl Eugenol.

2. Target main Problem – Female Oriental Fruit Fly

female B. dorsalis poses more threat than male oriental fruit fly.

3. Regulation – IR Counter, Trap, Phone App

Automatically regulation of the frequency and door open duration depending on data from IR counter and phone APP.

4. Eco-Friendly – Recycle

Replacing the indissoluble plastic material (distributed by the government) with recyclable wood chips. It can reduce environmental pollution.

Mechanism

Functionality Display Video

IR Counter & APP

IR counter records and provides real-time information of the orchard : pest group size, meteorological data including temperature and humidity. With a smartphone app, the bait traps are able to inform the grower of these important information.

Design

IR Counter + part文字

Functional Test

To improve the accuracy of counter, we tried to find the proper tunnel diameter allows only one-by-one passage of B. dorsalis. We prepared different size of straws to connect two centrifuge tubes. One contained male B. dorsalis, and the other contained the bait, methyl eugenol.

Result

Results indicate that when the tunnel diameter is above 0.8 cm, the flies can pass through.

(尚未想好名字)

(文字 – 家祥編寫中… 分析實際農地中配置方法 by 承勳model的結果, 成本, Z-bee收訊範圍…)