FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research program awarded Arkansas-based agricultural technology company SolarID AR $981,168 to continue developments on a smart insect control system, according to a press release.
Around $340,000 of the award will go to the University of Arkansas researchers who will incorporate an AI-powered camera into the system to identify and count different kinds of insects.
Ashley Dowling, a researcher in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and professor of entomology and plant pathology, and Khoa Luu, an assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering, are leading the project.
The overall project is working to produce a compact and weather-secure smart trap to identify insects and use on different cropping systems globally.
The smart insect control system is designed to "simplify" monitoring plant phenology and pest populations by processing data through a mobile app. It is meant to inform farmers about where pests populate in different seasons and different stages of plant growth in their fields in order to reduce the loss of crops.
“It’s exciting to know we have the funding to take the next step toward producing a marketable, field-ready unit and that a few years from now our invention could be in fields across the U.S. helping farmers monitor and protect their crops,” Dowling said.
New developments are "focused on building the database of insects the system needs to recognize and improving the reliability of detection within a species," according to the press release.
Dowling and Luu are working with the University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health to add EDDMapS—North America's largest invasive species and pest database—to the system.
They will also create a line of communication through their digital applications to share information with site managers, local governments, organizations, and the public.
Additionally, the researchers will partner with the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources and the USDA Agricultural Resources Services to focus on California crops. The partnership will work on training AI algorithms to identify species that threaten rice crops, almonds, pistachios, figs, and pomegranates.
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