The Aedes Aegypti
mosquitoes are back thanks to climate change affecting Jamaica and the Ministry
of Health is reacting slowly as usual as noted in my blog article
entitled “Dr.
Taylor links Climate Change to increase in Diseases in Jamaica - Dengue, Pink
Eye and Zika Virus coming and Asthma rising”.
Everyone in Kingston, St. Catherine and St. Andrew is buying
Mosquito destroyers like crazy, fearing the Chikungunya Virus, Dengue Fever or
even worse, a new virus, the Zika Virus coming to Jamaica as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Town
Hall Meetings for Zika Virus - How Hurricane Danny mean Mosquitoes ready to
spread the Virus”.
But people like yours truly cannot light destroyers, as I
suffer from bronchitis as detailed in my MICO Wars blog entitled “How
to use Alternative Treatments for Asthma and Bronchitis” symptoms of which
are is easily triggered by smoke of any sort.
So I use a modified Mosquito Zapper, which has the batteries
removed and replaced instead with a Nokia charger that help me to reduce my
need to always be buying batteries. But the problem with this is that I cannot
see the mosquitoes, so killing them is not easy unless they attack en mass,
wasting precious minutes swinging to kill invisible Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes.
So is there a way to kill mosquitoes en mass without suffocating to death or developing a very tired
right arm?
Intellectual
Ventures Photonic Fence Technology - How a Green Laser, Solar-powered batteries
and LIDAR can kill mosquitoes
Turns out there is a system involving the use of photonic
fence technology to kill the mosquitoes as described in the article “The
Solar Powered Laser Mosquito Zapper”, published March 9, 2015, Energy Matters.
From Oct 3, 2015 |
Announced in March 2015, the idea is to basically use a
laser combined with the same systems used it guide missile to targets to
literally fry the mosquitoes in flight. This product kinda reminds me of the
Raytheon's anti-missile Directed energy system or LaWS (Laser Weapon System) as
detailed in my blog
article entitled “Telecom
Providers and Raytheon - Star Wars on the high Seas”.
The Alaskans would welcome this, as thanks to climate change
the mosquitoes are getting more bothersome as noted in the article “Automated
mosquito-zapping laser? Yes, please”, published March 5, 2015 by Sean
Doogan, Alaska Dispatch News.
In fact, they getting abnormally large based on the research
from Dartmouth College that suggests that the Arctic Mosquitoes are getting
bigger in size as reported in my blog article entitled
“Dartmouth
College discovers Arctic Mosquitoes increasing in size – Why Global Warming is
making Mosquitoes get bigger”.
Originally developed by 1980’s astrophysicist Lowell Wood
and perfected by laser specialist and onetime anti-missile defense researcher
Jordin Kare, the technology is now the property of Intellectual Ventures, a
patent-holding company as reported in the article “Laser
Bug Zapper Inches To Market”, published 17 Mar 2015 By Philip E. Ross, Spectrum IEEE.
The solar powered device, which is a photonic fence made on
contract by LED maker Lighting Science Group of Melbourne, Florida as reported
in the article “Intellectual
Ventures’ laser mosquito zapper lands key licensing deal”, published March
3, 2015 BY Frank Catalano, Geekwire, is
funded under a partnership between Intellectual Ventures and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation called the Global Good.
The photonic fence isn't designed to search and destroy
every mosquito in range, as they're always going to return. Rather it's aimed
at creating a photonic fence that reduces the female population of mosquitoes
within a 30 m range.
To quote Senior Vice President at Intellectual Ventures,
Maurizio Vecchione, this is basically a cash cow in the making as can't kill
'em all: “Think of the mosquitoes in an area as an infinite reservoir. A
photonic fence is a radically different way of thinking of this problem: Now we have a realistic way of creating a
mosquito-free area. Malaria has been eradicated in many areas not by
eliminating every mosquito but by reducing the biting rate--if we could take
wet-season biting rate to a dry-season level, we could make a major dent in
that community’s malaria incidence.”
The motion of the mosquitoes is tracked using a IR
(Infrared) LIDAR, similar to the technology used in Google's self-driving Cars
as explained in my blog article entitled
“Google
Self-Driving Vehicle and Track Stand Cyclists - Why Speedy modified Three Laws
of Robotics means Driving will be made illegal”.
Once it determines the sex of the mosquito, based on the
frequency of the wing beat, the device tracks the motion of the mosquito. The
mosquitoes that come within a range of 30 meters are hit with a low power
3-watt, 532-nanometer-wavelength green laser as shown in the video below.
They are not killed, just heated by the 3-watt,
532-nanometer-wavelength green laser to the point where they cannot fly and
cause harm to humans and livestock. Thus mosquitoes are kept at bay and their
numbers within the photonic fence created by this laser targeting system is
significantly reduced.
Intellectual
Ventures tight lipped on release date - Testing being conducted to make it
human safe
Ideal deployments for this device is in areas where there
are a lot of flying insects and sunlight, as the rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries
can hold enough charge at nigh to continue to be effective. It can also be modified
to also shoot down locusts, houseflies, aphids and other annoying insects.
The product needs further testing to make it human safe, as a
3-watt, 532-nanometer-wavelength green laser straight into your eyes can blind
you unless you have on protective goggles. Also, it needs to be able to handle
shooting down a lot of incoming insects, as can occur during a locust swarm or
a mass migration of aphids or wasps, other insects for which this system can be
designed to kill.
The photonic fence technology may also need to have some
kind of AI installed so as to discriminate between humans and insects, as it
might be tempted to shoot humans if it mistakes them, based on backscatter IR,
for an insect. This may be necessary, especially if it is to work in crowded
places, as it won't always be the case where it’s installed in locations
without humans.
So when is Intellectual Ventures bringing this product to
market to help out farmers and Developing World countries to help them combat
deadly insects as well as malaria and Chikungunya carrying mosquitoes?
Intellectual Ventures has been very quiet, but I'm sure
being that they're part of the Global Good, they'll soon be deploying this
Photonic Fence Technology to a lot of customers eager for a non-pesticide laser
guided WMD (Weapon of Mosquito Destruction), Raytheon Style, to reduce the
insect population.
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