C-Band Telemetry of Insect Pollinators Using a Miniature Transmitter and a Self-Piloted Drone

A battery-less 5.8-GHz transmitter (TX), compact and lightweight enough to enable flight of ~90 mg honeybees and free roaming of bumblebees within their nest, was developed. The TX was coupled to a compact phased-array antenna receiver to achieve angle of arrival (AOA) estimation and bee localization through a received signal strength indicator approach (RSSI). The receiver was integrated into a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to support autonomous position updates based on the AOA estimates and a software development kit. A simple model predicting the system detection range was finally developed and is herein discussed. Our experimental results provide proof of concept toward autonomous tracking of tagged bees both in open air and in polytunnel settings.