Farmers under pressure to reduce chemical pesticides can take heart from the news that the US Department of Agriculture is about to start trialling a device that can kill insects with a laser. Developed by Seattle company Intellectual
Ventures Lab (IVL), the ‘Photonic Fence’ isn’t really a fence at all, but a small box containing lasers, cameras and an AI computer system. The cameras scan the air around the device for 100 metres, and the AI system measures the shape, speed, acceleration and wingbeat frequency of any bugs detected, to establish which are potentially harmful. Any insects identified as a threat can be zapped by the lasers, with a ‘kill rate’ of up to 20 insects per second.
By deploying several such devices,
farmers could effectively create a virtual fence around their crops that kills harmful pests but leaves bees and other beneficial or harmless insects unharmed. As well as protecting crops, it’s hoped
the Photonic Fence could also prove useful in the fight against malaria, by eliminating only the Anopheles mosquitoes that spread the disease without upsetting the balance of the local ecosystem in the way that blanket use of chemical pesticides would. The US trials began in August. If the device
is proven to work, then IVL hopes to bring a commercial product to market, though that will still be some years away.
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