Automatic monitoring of honeybees’ activity outside of the hive from UHD video

Abstract

Studying the behavior of social insect using computer vision algorithms is an interesting topic for both biological and signal processing communities. One of the most interesting aspects in the field is tracking of honeybees. Regarding computer vision method, honeybees’ behavior has been mostly monitored inside and at the entrance of the hive. In this research we are proposing the method for automatic monitoring of honeybees’ activity outside of the hive. Experiments showed that the activity of honeybees outside the hive can estimated using an ultra-high definition video captured with UAV from distance of 10 meters. Specific spots where honeybees are gathered can be detected using heat maps which represent the density of their occurrence in the observed time interval.