Optimization of microwave sensor used to monitor insect activities and density in stored grain

Detecting insects and estimating their densities in stored grain bins especially at their low densities is critical for insect control. Our group developed a microwave resonance sensor which can detect insects without grain. The application of the sensor in stored grain bins should be further studied. Therefore, the general goal of this proposed study is to improve the developed microwave sensor and make a cost-effective and affordable microwave device. The objectives of this study are to 1) investigate the signal patterns of each insect species under different temperatures and grain moisture contents (total five insect species); 2) classify the counted insects (five insect species) into species; 3) enable the system continuously to record the resonance frequency patterns over time and automatically count insects; and 4) optimize the parallel processing among multiple microwave sensors and main computer.

Faculty Supervisor:

Fuji Jian;Can-Ming Hu

Student:

Partner:

AGI SureTrack LLC

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Manitoba

Program: