Leveraging IoT technologies for smart hive management and sustainable beekeeping

Stojanova, Simona (author), Superina, Argene (author), Verhovnik, Jurij (author), Stojmenova Duh, Emilija (author)

Precision beekeeping (PB) integrates digital tools into apiculture to optimize hive management, improve productivity, and enhance sustainability. The study explores the implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in beekeeping. It presents a case study within the CODECS Horizon Europe project [1]. The case study which is related to beekeepers managing apiaries in remote locations highlights the need for remote monitoring systems. The key technological solutions include automated IoT-supported hive scales, refractometers for measuring the honey moisture content, and conductometers for assessing the honey conductivity. These tools enhance the economic, environmental, and social sustainability by reducing the labor, optimizing the honey production, and minimizing the carbon emissions from unnecessary travels. Results indicate that digital monitoring improves decision-making, reduces colony losses, and supports a data-driven approach to beekeeping, thus promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

• Language: English
• Keywords: precision agriculture (PA), digitalisation, IoT sensors, sustainability, apiculture, beekeeping
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 68-72
• Numbering: Letn. 92, št. 1/2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-168733
• UDC: 004:638.1
• ISSN on article: 0013-5852
• COBISS.SI-ID: 233370627
• Publication date in RUL: 20.04.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Elektrotehniški vestnik
• Publisher: Strokovna zadruga koncesijoniranih elektrotehnikov, Elektrotehniška zveza Slovenije
• ISSN: 0013-5852
• COBISS.SI-ID: 742916

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Izkoriščanje tehnologij Interneta stvari (IoT) za pametno upravljanje panjev in trajnostno čebelarstvo

Abstract

Natančno čebelarstvo (PB) vključuje digitalna orodja v čebelarstvo za optimizacijo upravljanja panjev, izboljšanje produktivnosti in krepitev trajnosti. Ta študija raziskuje uvedbo tehnologij Interneta stvari (IoT) v čebelarstvo ter predstavlja študijo primera v okviru projekta Horizon Europe CODECS. Študija primera se nanaša na čebelarja, ki upravlja čebelnjake na oddaljenih lokacijah, kar poudarja potrebo po sistemih za daljinsko spremljanje. Ključne tehnološke rešitve vključujejo avtomatizirane IoT-podprte tehtnice za panje, refraktometre za merjenje vsebnosti vlage v medu ter konduktometre za oceno ogljikovega dioksida zaradi nepotrebnih potovanj. Rezultati kažejo, da digitalno spremljanje izboljšuje sprejemanje odločitev, zmanjšuje izgube čebeljih kolonij ter podpira podatkovno usmerjen pristop k čebelarstvu, s čimer spodbuja trajnostne kmetijske prakse.

• Keywords: precizno kmetijstvo, digitalizacija, senzorji interneta stvari, trajnost, apikultura, čebelarstvo