## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Electromagnetic Induction with Non-Looping Method  
The DEKAN electromagnetic induction with non-looping (separation of the bait and the electronics) method (short as DEMINL) is a novel termite monitoring and warning system for detecting termite activity.  
The wireless device can detect the presence of termite workers by changes in the magnetic amount during termite feeding activity. Unlike a traditional monitoring system in a baiting station, separation of the bait and the electronics refers to the fact that wood bait does not constitute a part of the electronic circuit; instead, it is strictly only for food and as a supporting material for a magnetic bar in an information trigger block. With respect to the communication approach between the parts of device, electromagnetic induction is used for information triggering, and then signals are transferred to a remote scanner (handheld reader) by radio frequency identification (RFID).  
The device based on this method basically constitutes two parts: a bait station and a handheld scanner (reader) (Figure 1). The bait station includes an information trigger block at the bottom and an electromagnetic circuit board at the top (Figure 1A,B). The information trigger block consists of six rectangular wooden bars standing upright. Of the six bars, two have been hollowed inside to contain spherical glass particles (\(\sim\)1 mm in diameter). A permanent magnetic block is placed on the top of spherical glass particles in the hollow (Figure 1A,B).  
On the top of the information trigger block is the electromagnetic circuit board, which constitutes the antenna, a magnetic switch (Reed switch), and a microchip (Figure 1A,B). The electromagnetic circuit board is attached closely to the magnetic bar. Termites attracted by wooden pieces consume the outside of the spherical particle-filled information trigger block (Figure 2A). When the information trigger block is broken due to the termites'  
Figure 1: Components of a device using electromagnetic induction with separation of the bait and the electronics method for monitoring of termites. The device consists of two parts. (**A**) Bait station, including information trigger block (wood pieces, spherical particles, and magnetic bars) and circuit board. (**B**) Cross-sectional view of components of a device. (**C**) Radio frequency identification (RFID) signal scanner (reader). The signal can be shown on the screen of the reader (green means no termites).  
consumption, glass beads extrude from the breaking site and the permanent magnetic bar on the top of the beads drops down to active the magnetic switch in the electromagnetic circuit board.  
Along with the bait station, there is a handheld scanner (reader) (Figure 1C), equipped with a 7.4 V lithium battery inside. The scanner consists of an antenna, a microchip, and an operating system.  
To send and receive signals, a RFID (radio frequency identification) method is set up for communication between the circuit board in the bait station and the handheld scanner. This system adopts 465 MHz radio frequency for communication. The radio signals emitted by the handheld scanner's (Figure 1C) antenna at a specific frequency can activate the microchip in the circuit board (which is also called a tag in RFID system), and then the microchip in the circuit board backscatters radio signals so that the status of the circuit board can be read by the reader. The reader will decode the signals and will then show them on the screen of the reader or send them to the PC end for further analysis (Figure 2).