Researchers develop technology to detect disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes inhabit various world regions, with greater than 3,000 species already identified. A few of these are transmission vectors of several diseases, resembling malaria, yellow fever, or dengue. In response to the World Health Organization, 627,000 people died of malaria in 2020.

It’s precisely to regulate the proliferation of mosquitoes that the researcher Dinarte Vasconcelos is developing a tech solution throughout the scope of his Doctoral thesis. “My research goals to supply an economically viable solution filled with a set of sensors that may detect mosquitoes and distinguish them from other insects,” says the researcher. Nuno Nunes and João Pedro Gomes, professors on the Instituto Superior Técnico and researchers on the Institute of Interactive Technologies(ITI) and Institute of Systems and Robotics(ISR), respectively, advise the research project.

Initially, the team tested microphones that captured the sound of the mosquitoes’ flapping wings. “Because the frequency of the flapping of the wings varies between species, it is feasible to acknowledge the pattern of the species found by the microphones,” explains Dinarte Vasconcelos. Nonetheless, this approach allowed only the measurement inside a brief range, and the system was not prepared to handle background noise. With the inclusion of infrared optical sensors, it was possible to extend the system’s reach and make it resilient against ambient noise. Nonetheless, the existence of multiple species of insects requires using artificial intelligence to realize higher results. “We are going to need a database to discover which of the detected insects are mosquitoes,” he adds.

Under favorable conditions, a female mosquito can hatch between 100 and 200 eggs in 7 days, which is why the prototype must find a way to tell apart women and men. “The laboratory tests we did in partnership with the Natural History Museum of Funchal reveal that our system accurately identified greater than 90% of mosquitoes concerning species and sex”, says Dinarte Vasconcelos. Dinarte and the team conducted further testing in Thailand in partnership with Mahidol University, where malaria-transmitting mosquitoes -AedesandAnopheles, are present. The researchers conducted experiments near the Rajanagarindra Tropical Disease International Centre(RTIC). Here, the team placed light and dry ice traps to draw mosquitoes. They designed these tests to calibrate sensors, discover problems and improve detection in a natural environment.

Once finalized, the prototype will transmit information to health authorities via radio frequency to transmit data because it is more energy efficient than WiFi, thus allowing a real-time mapping of mosquito presence. On this sense, the Interactive Technologies Institute, University College London, and the Regional Directorate of Health of Madeira signed a research protocol to develop a monitoring system on Madeira Island.

In the longer term, researchers intend to proceed the event of the technology in order that it may well distinguish between mosquitoes and other insects. Along with serving the unique purpose, researchers can use the identical technology to observe other insect species of particular interest, resembling bees and other pollinators, whose population has been dwelling over the past few years.

Source:

Interactive Technologies Institute