# Real-Time Remote Sensing of the _Lobesia botrana_ Moth Using a Wireless Acoustic Detection Sensor
## 4 Discussion and Conclusions  
A real-time moth (_Lobesia botrana_) presence monitoring system was presented in this work. It was based on an acoustic signal detection. The different steps of the calibration of the sensor device as well as the moth detection and register of the data on the server were positively validated in the field experiments. The results showed that it was possible to detect and identify _Lobesia botrana_ with an acoustic sensor and processing device, which was validated in the laboratory and with a neural network analysis from an experimental database. This is a promising alternative to the current survey method with pheromone traps and manual installing and manual counting. The manual counting is often performed over several days or weeks so occasionally the moth is not detected in time; therefore, countermeasures for the pest control are delayed. In searching the literature for pest detection, we did not find other reports for the acoustic detection of _Lobesia botrana_. Results for other insects, or pests in general, were often similar to what we have presented here; detection and counting was possible and effective in a laboratory situation and was validated in the field under controlled scenarios. As our acoustic method showed, the detection of insects under real conditions was effective and technically possible as others have also demonstrated using acoustics or other methods [8; 19; 22; 24; 27; 30; 32]. Further work is needed for most of them to be widely used and applied to transform the agriculture and food industry as questions about costs, location, distribution, real-time capabilities, necessity, detection sensitivity, insect identification and discrimination are mostly unanswered. It is interesting to note the broad-sensing principles and technologies used (image processing (UV, visible, IR), radar, vibration, acoustics, capacitance) using different features or characteristics of the insect as well as the fact that many of them base the detection on trained and self-learning algorithms from artificial intelligence. As a perspective, and to permit the use of this device as a _Lobesia botrana_ counter, the system must be calibrated in its sensitivity in contrast to current pheromone traps. The question about how many counted events correspond with a count with a pheromone trap has to be answered. Therefore, more field experiments are needed. As a future work, we propose to optimize the design of the system to make it fit the needs of the Chilean Agricultural Service or the vineyards in terms of autonomy, size and potential other services (GPS location, temperature sensing, etc.) as well as in terms of the costs. The components used in the current version were of a broad purpose and over-dimensioned; the current broadband microphone could be changed to a normal microphone and the processing unit could be reduced to a specialized device (i.e., a signal amplifier with an analog filter or the same in a digital version). It would be interesting to  
Figure 13: System installed in the field under controlled conditions inside a closed net cage. In the cage, 50 moths were detected and the system functioned for 5 days. (**a**) A close-up of the microphone and pheromone trap. Both are inside a tube to protect them from rain. (**b**) First prototype version of the system inside a sealed case. test the device with other pest insects to broaden the use and application. Therefore, the particular filters have to be reviewed and upgraded. Conceptualization, S.F., G.H. and F.P. ; methodology, S.F., G.H. and F.P. ; software, N.B., G.H., F.P. and F.S. ; validation, S.F., G.H. and F.P. ; formal analysis, S.F., G.H., F.P. and F.S. ; investigation, F.P. ; resources, D.C., S.F. and C.Y. ; writing--original draft preparation, F.P. ; writing--review and editing, S.F., G.H. and F.P. ; visualization, F.L. ; supervision, G.H. ; project administration, S.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by FONDECYT-Chile Grant 11150388. Not applicable.