# Digital Transformation of Beekeeping through the Use of a Decision Making Architecture
## 1 Introduction  
Recently, the beekeeping industry has been threatened by a decline in the number of bee populations and a drop in production. Beekeepers grapple with many issues related to the health of bee colonies. Scientific work is focused on a deep understanding of the causes of these phenomena in order to help beekeepers make the right decisions [1]. In France, a study on the mortality rate of bee colonies during the winter of 2020-2021 was carried out with more than 13,000 participating beekeepers (Platform ESA. National survey on winter mortality of bee colonies, 2021. Accessed on 28 September 2022. [[https://siteweb.esa.inrae.fr/en/node/536](https://siteweb.esa.inrae.fr/en/node/536)]([https://siteweb.esa.inrae.fr/en/node/536](https://siteweb.esa.inrae.fr/en/node/536))). In general, the death rate is estimated at 24.8%. According to a FranceAgremer (FranceAgrimer: The National Establishment of Agricultural and Sea Products) study [2], sales of honey and derivatives (pollen, pure royal jelly, honey and royal jelly, etc.) in supermarkets are estimated in 2020 at 16,200 tons, an increase of nearly 11% compared to 2019. The increasing consumer interest is explained by the positive image of the product (healthy, natural, etc.). For more than 10 years, honey production in France has been increasing, but despite this, it is not enough to cover an increasingly strong demand. Consequently, France imports honey to fill the gap between consumption and production. The volumes of imported honey thus increased by 36% between 2010 and 2020 (6% in 2020). It is now evident that environmental pollution and climate change are a great danger to our planet. Experts have confirmed that they pose a very dangerous threat to many species of terrestrial and marine fauna. However, the death of the bee population necessary for pollination is considered the most important warning for humans. According to FranceAgrimer(FranceAgrimer. Observatory of the production of honey and royal jelly, July 2022. Accessed on 28 September 2022. [[https://www.franceagrimer.fr/fam/content/download/69152/document/SYN-API-Observatoire_Miel_et_Gel%C3%A9e_Royale_2021.pdf?version=3](https://www.franceagrimer.fr/fam/content/download/69152/document/SYN-API-Observatoire_Miel_et_Gel%C3%A9e_Royale_2021.pdf?version=3)]([https://www.franceagrimer.fr/fam/content/download/69152/document/SYN-API-Observatoire_Miel_et_Gel%C3%A9e_Royale_2021.pdf?version=3](https://www.franceagrimer.fr/fam/content/download/69152/document/SYN-API-Observatoire_Miel_et_Gel%C3%A9e_Royale_2021.pdf?version=3))), the total number of beekeepers has increased over the past 6 years and for the first year, the Observatory has highlighted a decline in the number of beekeepers in France. Thus, in 2021, there were 70,847 declared beekeepers, compared to 71,273 in 2020. Nevertheless, the number of beekeepers with more than 50 hives continues to grow (+288 beekeepers, or more than a 5% improvement). France has 5708 beekeepers with more than 50 hives. A solution to tackle these issues is to connect and digitalize the beehives. Our goal is to help the beekeepers and decision-makers (politician, responsible for cooperative, etc.) to make their decisions and to supervise one or several beehives. These decisions could be from a day to a year. More specifically, beekeepers keep a record or journal of their hives. In this record, the beekeepers note the information about all treatments, handling, feeding, visits, harvesting of the honey, etc. In addition, many applications in manufacturing systems require a combination of new technologies, resulting in the emergence of Industry 4.0. The most well-known technologies used by Industry 4.0 are IoT, Cloud Computing, Big data, and cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS are mechanisms that allow monitoring through communication, data storage, and computational capabilities directly incorporated into objects [3]. More precisely, CPS has embedded software that uses sensors and actuators.