Introducing The Smart Bee Colony Monitoring System

Ruk Rakaganno introduces The Smart Bee Colony Monitoring System for the first time in Sri Lanka.

In a world where bees silently drive our ecosystems, a groundbreaking initiative is taking flight in Sri Lanka to safeguard these tiny, yet vital pollinators.

Bees play a critical role as pollinators, supporting both biodiversity and agriculture. Beyond sustaining plant life, and enhancing the food chain, they produce honey, a natural product prized for its medicinal properties.

Recognizing the urgent need to protect these invaluable insects, Ruk Rakaganno (the Tree Society of Sri Lanka), in collaboration with the University of Colombo recently launched an innovative initiative, the Smart Bee Colony Monitoring System, for the first time in Sri Lanka.

This groundbreaking project, funded by Deutsche Bank, was officially installed for field trials on October 3, 2024, at the Popham Arboretum in Dambulla.

The Popham Arboretum which is owned and managed by the National Institute of Fundamental Studies was previously managed by Ruk Rakaganno for 15 years.

On the initiative of Ruk Rakaganno, this Smart Bee Box was developed by researchers from the Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences of the University of Colombo, namely Tharindu Ranasinhe and Akila Peiris under the supervision of Professor Mayuri Wijesinghe. This monitoring system anticipates optimizing Beekeeping to accommodate the island’s specific environmental and climatic conditions. The system leverages complex data to monitor the health and productivity of bee colonies in real time. It tracks critical parameters once in every two seconds and updates to the cloud once in every two minutes, information such as temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, weight, and bee activity, both inside and outside the Bee Box to provide an efficient, remote solution, for analysis, with a view to manage the bee colony effectively.

This initiative represents a significant step forward in using advanced technology in ecological conservation. Though initially developed for research purposes, by a batch of students from the University of Moratuwa, the system’s further development will be guided by identifying the patterns and developing models to predict and monitor bee colony performance, which will benefit Sri Lankan apiculture in the long run.

This innovation initiated by Ruk Rakaganno holds the promise of ensuring the long-term sustainability of Beekeeping for Honey production and thus help these essential pollinators and the biodiversity they support.

The Smart Bee Box team posing in front of the installation. Kneeling in front are the two designers Tharindu Ranasinhe and Akila Pieris in the presence of the President of Ruk Rakaganno Dushy Perera and Umanda Jayatilake of the John Keells Foundation with Rohan Jayasinghe Director Projects of RR, Anura Jasinghe Bee Consultant for RR, Sanduni Kannangara a student from University of Colombo, and Chanaka the Manager of the Arboretum standing round.