Published date: 23 October 2017
Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.
Contract summary
Industry
Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000
Research and experimental development services - 73100000
Research services - 73110000
Environmental services - 90700000
Location of contract
Any region
Value of contract
£41,666
Procurement reference
tender_148174/627285
Published date
23 October 2017
Closing date
1 March 2017
Contract start date
1 April 2017
Contract end date
31 March 2019
Contract type
Service contract
Procedure type
Award of contract without prior publication of a contract notice
Contract is suitable for SMEs?
Yes
Contract is suitable for VCSEs?
Yes
Description
Drosophila (D) suzukii has become a serious pest in Europe since its spread in 2008 to Spain and Italy, and the UK in 2012, attacking many soft-skinned crops such as several berry species, cherry and grapevines. Pest monitoring is the basis of its control. Therefore, an efficient and accurate monitoring system is essential in order to identify the presence of D. suzukii in crops and surrounding areas, and to prevent damage to economically valuable fruit crops. Existing methods for monitoring D. suzukii are costly, time and labor intensive and consequently conducted at a low spatial resolution and prone to errors. It is proposed to develop a novel system to overcome current monitoring limitations consisting of traps which are monitored by means of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an automatic image processing pipeline for the identification and count of the number of D. suzukii per trap location. Automated monitoring has an advantage over current methods in terms of (1) labour intensity, (2) sampling interval, (3) automatic integration into Decision Support Systems (DSS), (4) monitoring of diverse and even hardly accessible habitats, and (5) population monitoring in vast areas in relation to climatic and other geo-processed parameters. A multi-variable sticky trap evaluation will allow for the selection of the most suitable one to attract the target insect. A small multi-rotor UAV platform will be flown at multiple intervals to capture high resolution color aerial photographs of the insect traps. The photographs will be subjected to image processing algorithms to identify the presence or absence of D. suzukii and their counts. The data collected will be transferred to a DSS to provide valuable information for growers in a format that is both meaningful and accessible, thereby demonstrating the added value and social importance of applied science and technology to the wider community and food security.
More information
Additional text
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Award information
Awarded date
1 April 2017
Contract start date
1 April 2017
Contract end date
31 March 2019
Total value of contract
£41,666
This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.
University of Aberdeen
Address
University Office, Regent Walk, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, AB24 3FX, UNITED KINGDOM
Reference
None
Supplier is SME?
No
Supplier is VCSE?
No
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Closing: 1 March 2017
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