Project start: 1.10.2025.

The European honeybee is the most widely managed pollinator, playing a key role in agriculture and food security. Effects of climate change, diseases, and human activity have led to several issues in managed colonies, such as increasing winter losses, which are often a result of a weakened colony. Hive monitoring offers a promising solution by enabling real-time assessment of colony conditions through continuous observation of key parameters. As part of the WASP project an autonomous system designed to monitor honeybee colonies will be proposed, which will utilize multiple sensor types to estimate vital parameters, including colony strength, linked to successful overwintering. Building on previous laboratory and in-situ studies, showing the feasibility of this approach, the proposed system will integrate thermoelectric energy harvesting (EH) devices which utilize the colony's waste heat as a power source, particularly in the winter months, when other conventional energy sources, e.g. solar, are les abundant, thus curtailing human intrusions into the hive by eliminating the need for battery replacements, as well as reducing environmental impact. The overall system design will incorporate an ultra-low-power communication module to transmit collected data to the cloud or directly to the beekeeper, ensuring efficient data access. Given the system’s close interaction with the colony, particular attention will be paid to minimizing any potential adverse effects on bee behaviour and colony health. Building upon the expertise in EH technologies of the researcher, in collaboration with partnering institutions, the project will develop working prototypes of the autonomous hive monitoring system. The activities of the project will result in publications in open access scientific journals as well as in conference presentations, encouraging scientific collaboration and innovation.