14-ATC2 Feasibility of developing autonomous SmartTraps for remote monitoring Spotted Wing Drosophila in soft and stone fruit

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The accurate monitoring of pests is key to profitable crop production and lowers pesticide use through improved timing of application. This project will investigate the feasibility of developing a SmartTraps system for remote monitoring of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), an invasive fruit pest that has increased the cost of production by 10% in Europe and the US and threatens the UK soft and stone fruit industries. The feasibility of rapidly and accurately identifying the near microscopic Spotted Wing Drosophila males and females by image analysis in compact, autonomous, non-saturating traps will be determined as the key preliminary step and technological challenge. The traps will allow much closer and more reliable monitoring of SWD, and will be a significant advancement in pest specific monitoring technology, allowing real time cloud-based data integration accessible on the web and a variety of mobile platforms. The technology will have wide application for numerous pests globally.