Smart-Traps for Fruit Flies: Their Integration into Pest Management and Biosecurity

Abstract

Smart-traps for fruit flies (i.e., traps aimed for real-time and remote monitoring of adult fruit flies) are being proposed and developed at a fast rate by many groups, and their applications in fruit fly pest management and surveillance is becoming a reality. Smart-traps are constituted by an electronic and communication system, and detect, count and classify fruit flies with the assistance of electronic sensors, such as optical, electromagnetic and acoustic. In general, most smart-traps proposed and developed for fruit flies utilize optical sensor, either to count flies through photo-interruption, or by obtaining high-resolution images that can be further analysed with image processing techniques. In addition, some currently commercialized smart-trap sense entering
fruit flies into the trap with electrical sensors sustained by capacitors. During the last years, some of these smart-trap prototypes have been tested and used in fruit fly pest management research. More recently, some commercial companies are already providing fruit fly management services using smart-traps as a source of information on fruit fly pest levels in space and time for decision-making.