WINGBEAT RECORDER OF FLYING INSECTS

The device’s intended use is to automatically record insects’ wingbeating events as they cross the sensor’s probe volume.

It is an optoelectronic device for lab use based on infrared light not visible to human eye. The emitter and the receiver are based on Fresnel lenses. The device senses whatever moves between emitter and receiver, records the light fluctuations due to the casted shadow of the wings and produces an audio snippet in wav format that is stored along with temperature, humidity and a time-stamp of the event. The snippets are stored automatically in its SD card and can be processed with any audio processing program including Matlab and Python. Data can also be automatically uploaded to the Insectronics and retrieved from there.

It has been extensively tested to record the wingbeat of Aphides, Culicoides, fruit flies, bees and mosquitoes. Typically, the sensor is inserted in a BugDorm type insectary cage or in conjunction with a transparent confinement enclosure as seen in the accessories or tethered using a inverted tweezer.

Targeted insects: Any flying insect