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EP-3710359-B1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC RELEASE PLANNING FOR INSECT RELEASE

EP3710359B1EP 3710359 B1EP3710359 B1EP 3710359B1EP-3710359-B1

Inventors

  • ZHA, TIANTIAN
  • MASSARO, PETER
  • LEE, ERIKA

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20181116

Claims (14)

  1. A computer-implemented method (900) comprising: receiving (910) insect information indicating a population of wild insects within a geographic region (200), the insect information being obtained from multiple insect traps (120a-n) within the geographic region, wherein the geographic region comprises a number of roads and houses, each house being disposed along a corresponding road; determining a number of houses within a predetermined radius of each trap in the geographic region; determining (920), based on the received insect information, a number of wild insects per house with respect to each trap for houses within the predetermined radius of that trap; assigning each house to a corresponding road segment, wherein each road segment begins or ends at an intersection of two or more of the number of roads or wherein each road segment is a portion of road having a predetermined length; determining (940), for each road segment, a location for one or more insect release points (830), or no release points, along the road segment, each insect release point indicating a release of a predefined quantity of modified insects, wherein the location of the one or more insect release points, or no release points, along the road segment is determined based on the number of wild insects per assigned house, the number of assigned houses and a predetermined ratio of modified insects to be released per wild insect; generating (950) an insect release route (310) through the geographic region, the insect release route passing through each insect release point.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a number of houses per road segment; assigning a weight for each road segment based on the number of houses associated with that road segment, wherein determining, for each road segment for which one or more release points is determined, the location for the one or more insect release points (830) along the road segment comprises determining an even distribution of the number of one or more insect release points along the road segment based on the weight assigned to that road segment.
  3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the number of wild insects per house comprises determining a number of wild female insects per house, wherein the modified insects to be released are sterile male insects, the method comprising: determining a quantity of sterile male insects to be released based on the number of wild female insects and the predetermined ratio.
  4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving information indicating a number of trapped sterile male insects captured by one or more of the multiple insect traps within the geographic region; determining a longevity of sterile male insects previously released into the geographic region based on the number of trapped sterile male insects; determining a quantity of sterile male insects to release at each release point based on the longevity of sterile male insects.
  5. The method of claim 1, wherein the insect release route indicates a travel speed of a release vehicle.
  6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the insect release route to a release vehicle.
  7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting arrival at an insect release point; and activating an insect release mechanism.
  8. The method of claim 7, wherein the insect release mechanism comprises a tube having a population of insects and a blower; and wherein activating the release mechanism comprises: activating the blower, presenting a portion of the tube to the blower, and moving the tube past the blower.
  9. The method of claim 8, further comprising varying the movement of the tube past the blower based on a determined insect release rate.
  10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after generating the insect release route: receiving additional information indicating an updated population of wild insects; determining an updated number of wild insects per house; adjusting a placement of at least one insect release point; and updating the insect release route based on the adjusted insect release points.
  11. The method of claim 1, wherein each insect release point has the same predefined quantity of modified insects.
  12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the insect release route is based on either: a type of release vehicle, wherein the type of release vehicle is one of (i) a truck or sport utility vehicle, (ii) a motorcycle, (iii) a car, (iv) a drone, (v) a manned aircraft, (vi) a bicycle, or (vii) a person; or one or more of (i) weather data, (ii) population density, (iii) building types within the geographic region, (iv) expected release height of the insect population, or (v) expected time of day of release.
  13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions configured, when executed by a processor, to cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.
  14. A system comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and a processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the processor-executable instructions configured, when executed by the processor, to cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.

Description

FIELD The present disclosure generally relates to population control of wild insects and more specifically relates to systems and methods for dynamic release planning for insect release. BACKGROUND All continents except Antarctica suffer from the plague of mosquito-vectored diseases. Various techniques for the control of mosquito populations involve the generation of sterile male insects for release into the wild for mating with local females. These techniques require systems for releasing the reared insects into the wild. WO 2017/154003 discloses a method and system for preparing a distribution program for insects. The method includes obtaining distribution data of a wild population of insects, generating a population density map at a resolution consistent with a distribution resolution level of a vehicle, and generating a release map by modifying the population density map in accordance with distribution parameters of the vehicle. SUMMARY Aspects of the invention are set out in the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more certain examples and, together with the description of the example, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the certain examples. Figure 1 shows an example system for dynamic release planning for insect release;Figure 2 shows an example geographic region having insect traps;Figure 3 shows an example geographic region having insect traps and an insect release route for an insect release vehicle;Figures 4A-4B show an example insect storage and release system;Figure 5 shows an example insect release mechanism;Figure 6 shows an example geographic region having insect traps, an insect release route for an insect release vehicle, and multiple insect release points;Figure 7 shows an example geographic region having insect traps and multiple road segments;Figure 8 shows an example geographic region having insect traps, multiple road segments, and multiple insect release points;Figure 9 shows an example method for dynamic release planning for insect release; andFigure 10 shows an example computing device suitable for use with one or more systems or methods for dynamic release planning for insect release. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Examples are described herein in the context of systems and methods for dynamic release planning for insect release. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of examples as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or like items. In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the examples described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. A commercial insect rearing program may raise modified insects for use in controlling a local insect population. For example, the rearing program may engineer mosquitos with desirable traits. These desirable traits may include sterility (or otherwise lacking the ability to produce viable offspring) and the capability of competing with wild insects of the same species. In some examples, the reared insects may be male insects, e.g., sterile male mosquitos that are able to compete with wild mosquitos in the area for mating partners. Other desirable traits may include, for example, longevity, size, flight capability, or heat-resistance. Once reared, these modified mosquitos must be released into the wild to compete with local mosquitos for mating partners, which may thereby reduce the number of offspring and reduce the overall mosquito population. To increase the efficacy of such a technique, the modified insects are released at particular locations and in quantities based on the wild insect population at those locations. Information about wild insect populations may be obtained from insect traps positioned throughout a region, which may then be provided to a software release planning tool. The release planning tool obtains the insect trap information and determines a wild female insect population based on the number of insects caught in each of the traps over a period of time. The wild female insect population is then used to determine a number of sterile male insects to be released into the geographic region to help reduce the total wild population. The release planning tool uses a predetermined ratio of ten sterile male insects per wild fem