eBoss: a field-proven optical sensor for continuous monitoring of flying insects
eBoss, a near-infrared laser sensor, counts, sizes, and classifies flying insects continuously and unattended as they cross its beam. Eye-safe, invisible to insects, and solar-powered, it delivers aerial and biomass density at one-minute resolution and separates insect groups, including male and female mosquitoes, via machine learning. Field-validated over nine months with 302,093 transits and strong correlation against physical traps, it supports agricultural pest monitoring and vector surveillance without bait, traps, or cameras.
Overview
eBoss (Entomological Bistatic Optical Sensor System) is a near-infrared laser-based sensor that counts, sizes, and classifies flying insects as they cross its beam — continuously and unattended, with no bait, capture, chemicals, or cameras. It provides objective, quantitative insect activity data that can replace or complement manual trap counting in agricultural pest monitoring, vector surveillance, and ecological research.
The system is eye-safe, invisible to insects, low-power, and suitable for solar-powered deployment in outdoor plots, greenhouses, and other field settings. Data are delivered through a standard API and dashboard, making it straightforward to integrate into existing monitoring workflows.
Technical specifications
Key features:
- 980 nm, 5 mW collimated near-infrared laser beam; eye-safe and invisible to insects
- Per-transit measurements of wingbeat frequency and harmonics, body and wing optical cross-sections, and transit time
- Aerial density (insects/m³) and biomass density (mg/m³) outputs at one-minute resolution
- Machine-learning classification of insect groups, including male and female mosquitoes (96.5% accuracy from wingbeat alone)
- Low-power, solar-powered operation for long-term unattended field deployment
- Data served via a standard API and dashboard
Current limitations: detects flying insects only; provides group-level rather than species-level identification; current hardware is a research form factor.
Technology readiness level
eBoss is field-proven. A nine-month continuous campaign recorded 302,093 insect transits, and abundance tracked against eight physical traps over eight months correlated at r = 0.76 at one-minute versus three-day resolution. No other stand-off instrument is known to have delivered continuous, season-long tracking of total insect activity and a target group (mosquitoes, by sex) at this resolution.
Because the optics consist of a laser diode, a filter, and a photodiode, the path to a compact, affordable consumer device is primarily an engineering effort rather than basic research. The team offers pilot deployments for one full monitoring season, with installation, staff training, monthly data reviews, and a final report including a requirements document for a consumer derivative. Co-development and licensing of the classification and density-analysis methods are also available.
About New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJIT is a public polytechnic research university (Carnegie R1) in Newark, serving the New York–New Jersey innovation corridor. Industry engages on campus through VentureLink, the university’s startup incubator in University Heights Science Park and the Newark Innovation Zone, and via a large makerspace that supports prototyping for external partners. The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a corporation of NJIT, provides an industry‑facing gateway, including a venture‑studio model launched with the state’s economic‑development authority, to speed translation and scale. Research is backed by competitive federal funding from agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOE and DoD. An Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing Office manages IP, licensing and startup formation alongside NJII and VentureLink.
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