Arnia Remote Hive Monitoring System

The honey bee has been around for millions of years. The world’s bees pollinate 70 of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food, make thousands of tonnes of honey and contribute millions of dollars to the global economy. Honey is the only food produced by an insect that is eaten by man and is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life. Given the global environmental and economic value of honey bees, Arnia has developed a unique M2M monitoring application that is designed especially for beehives.

Arnia provides state-of-the-art remote beehive monitoring for beekeepers, bee farmers, and bee researchers. Currently installed in hundreds of hives in 14 different countries, Arnia is unique in combining hive acoustics monitoring with other parameters such as brood temperature, humidity, hive weight, and apiary weather conditions. Arnia’s monitoring systems and specialist online platform provide a unique insight into hive conditions and bee behavior to help maintain strong, healthy and productive colonies. Hive data is presented on the platform with clear, easy to read graphics, and users have access to current and historical values, enabling time series analysis, trend observation and comparative analysis of colony data, including between different colonies. By monitoring the sound of a bee colony it is possible to interpret and assess colony behavior, strength, and health. When combined with other parameters in a centralized platform, customers receive unparalleled insight into their hives. Even better, all this is accessible from any internet-enabled device. Arnia’s system also provides security alerts if the hive is moved, winter monitoring of hive health and humidity without the need to visit the apiary, as well as the ability to remotely monitor and log weather conditions at each site.

The success of Arnia’s remote monitoring system is largely determined by the reliability of the devices’ network connectivity. This can be a particular challenge in remote or rural areas, where beehives are often located.  Arnia Operations Manager, Peter Sogorski says, ‘Some of the apiary sites that our beekeepers have are often on the periphery of network signals. Sites are sometimes obscured by buildings or trees and this does affect signals locally.’ When the integrity of research studies and the health of the hives is at stake, bee researchers and farmers cannot afford to lose data packets as a result of weak or patchy network signal which often occurs in remote areas. Pod Group provides a solution to this issue with its Best Signal Multi-Network SIM, which automatically detects the best signal in an area when a device is switched on and switches to an alternate network if the signal is lost.  Sogorski continues, ‘We have been using Pod Group SIMs since 2011. When they introduced their Best Signal Multi-Network SIM we took a couple to try and were very pleased with the performance. Having the multi-network SIMs means the connection will automatically switch to another network, should it be required.’

Arnia have found the Best Signal Multi-Network SIMs to be a reliable solution to ensure continuous connectivity throughout Europe. Sogorski comments, ‘We recently installed Pod Group’s Best Signal Multi-Network SIMs in our hive monitors on sites across Europe, in the UK, Germany, France, Poland and Hungary, where we were running major projects. The SIMs performed well and loss of network or data packets has never been an issue, even though some of the sites were quite challenging geographically.’ These SIMs also provide reliable data connectivity for remote monitoring applications throughout the USA, with comprehensive multi-network coverage in the USA on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Sogorski says, ‘We also use the Best Signal SIMs in the USA and had no issues. They give the same reliability and continuity in their data transfer at our US sites as they do in Europe.’ In addition to providing reliable remote connectivity, Pod Group’s Best Signal Multi Network SIMs offer a flat rate data across Europe and the USA. This makes it easy for M2M companies to expand their operations across the Atlantic, without the worry of increased data costs. Sogorski concludes, ‘We find this competitively priced multi-network SIM invaluable in both the EU and USA. Our application requires reliability and continuity in our data transfer, as this is a critical part of our bee monitoring system. The Best Signal SIMs provide controllable costs and reliable connectivity.’ After working together since 2011, Arnia’s relationship with Pod Group has grown into a strategic partnership, helping to create future-proofed solutions that suit everyone, no matter their requirements.