IDEA #90T4JE Apparatus to Detect, Catalog and Count Insects by using Waveform Analysis of Radiation Reflected and Scattered by their Wings.borne pest detection, wing beat frequency. 20A0023

SBIR #1842973 to Atolla Tech LLC Key Words: active remote sensing, lidar, eye-safe, airborne pest detection, wing beat frequency Effective pest control in agriculture is imperative for growers to prevent major crop loss. Certain pests are responsible for such significant crop damage which provokes growers to invest in expensive and time-consuming measures to minimize the pest’s effects. Insects fly into a crop field in search of food, lay their larvae in the target crop and thus begin the damage. The reaction of the grower to the pest is time-sensitive; the timing of the treatment application will directly determine its effectiveness. Having the knowledge of when the initial pest has entered the crop field is ideal, however, the sooner there is any knowledge of pest activity, the better a grower can mitigate its effects. Crop fields with more acres, in more remote locations, and/or with rougher terrain present bigger challenges to the grower in scouting and mitigating the threatening pest’s activity, leaving the grower in search of better solutions. Atolla Tech proposes a new sensor technology for farmers that will reduce the effects of airborne pests on agricultural crops and automate the current labor-intensive monitoring techniques that will directly result in more sustainable pest treatment practices.