Effects of low-powered RF sweep between 0.01-20 GHz on female Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes: A collective behaviour analysis
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2017
Abstract
There are many products claiming to be an electronic solution towards repelling mosquitoes. Several reviews were published in debunking these claims. However, there is a lack of a systematic study on effects of electromagnetic (EM) or more specifically, radio frequency (RF) waves against mosquitoes due to the conclusions made in those years. Therefore, we attempt to establish a fundamental study on female Aedes Aegypti (Linnaeus) mosquitoes by quantifying the collective behavior of the mosquitoes against a continuous stream of lowpowered RF signals via a broadband horn antenna using image processing methods. By examining the average lateral and vertical positions of the mosquitoes versus frequency and time, the data shows negligible consistency in the reactions of the mosquitoes toward the different frequencies ranging from 10 to 20,000.00 MHz, with a step of 10 MHz. This was done by examining 33 hours of spatiotemporal data, which was divided into three sessions. All three sessions showed totally different convolutions in the positions in arbitrary units based on the raster scan of the image processing output. Several frequencies apparently showed up to 0.2±70% shift in both lateral and vertical components along the spectrum, without repeatability for all three sessions. This study contributes to the following: A pilot study for establishing the collective effects of RF against mosquitoes, open-source use, and finally a low-cost and easily adaptable platform for the study of EM effects against any insects.
Keywords
Aedes, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Mosquito Control, Pilot Projects, Radio Waves
Divisions
fac_eng,fac_med
Funders
Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education’s Fundamental Research Grant Scheme, grant number: FRGS, grant number FP003-2014B (ref: FRGS/2/2014/TK03/UM/01/1),Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, UM High Impact Research Grant, grant number: UM.C/HIR/MOHE/MED/16
Publication Title
PLoS ONE
Volume
12
Issue
6
Publisher
Public Library of Science