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Mosquitoes whine.
Actually, it is the sound of their wings beating as they are airborne. Use this sound to count them.
A microphone coupled to electronics could be used to measure the intensity of the mosquito whine and, with a bit of audio processing, derive the number and types of mosquitoes
present.
This information could be used to schedule activities which require us to quit the confines of our screened and protected houses and venture into the great outdoors, at the time they are least likely to be around.
(?) Mosquito acoustics
http://www.acoustic...s/132nd/3pab10.html
relvant study [csea, Feb 26 2008]
[link]
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Would an electronic system be able to tell the difference between a few nearby mozzies, and a large number of more distant mozzies? |
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A single mosquito generates a single tone, which wobbles in frequency as the mosquito changes velocity and direction. |
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A host of mosquitoes will generate a host of such tones, which can be distinguished by suitable processing of the signal - I think it can be accomplished by a host of tracking filters, each monitoring one mosquito each. |
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By the same method, it might be possible to distinguish between hungry lasses looking for a blood meal, hopeful lads hovering around for them to arrive, and laden matrons flying away satiated in short hops. |
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What about squitos that are not in flight? You could use a trap that counts catches/hour giving you a better effective count. |
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I guess you have never encountered the kind of situation where they are all just sitting around on the bushes, and rise up in a great cloud as they smell your breath. (I understand they track carbon dioxide, although I am still not sure why that doesn't mean we end up eating them, instead of getting stung.) |
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<slightly related>
A friend recently described a project in which the sound of keystrokes in a (quiet) room can be analyzed, and reliable transcriptions made using a single microphone. Raises some interesting security issues, when coupled with standard "bouncing a laser off a nearby window" technology for eavesdropping. </sr> |
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