BHiveSense: An integrated information system architecture for sustainable remote monitoring and management of apiaries based on IoT and microservices

Precision Beekeeping, a field of Precision Agriculture, is an apiary management strategy based on monitoring honeybee colonies to promote more sustainable resource usage and maximise productivity. The approach related to Precision Beekeeping is based on methodologies to mitigate the stress associated with human intervention in the colonies and the waste of resources. These goals are achieved by supporting the intervention and managing the beekeeper's timely and appropriate action at the colony's level. In recent years, the growth of IoT (Internet-of-Things) in Precision Agriculture has spurred several proposals to contribute to the paradigm of Precision Beekeeping, built on different technical concepts and with different production costs. This work proposes and describes an information systems architecture concept named BHiveSense, based on IoT and microservices, and different artefacts to demonstrate its concept: (1) a low-cost COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) hive sensing prototype, (2) a REST backend API, (3) a Web application, and (4) a Mobile application. This project delivers a solution for a more integrated and sustainable beekeeping activity. Our approach stresses that by adopting microservices and a REST architecture, it is possible to deal with long-standing problems concerning interoperability, scalability, agility, and maintenance issues, delivering an efficient beehive monitoring system.