The Acceptability of An Android-Based Rice Black Bug Monitoring System using an Electronic Drone with an Arduino-Based Light Trap

Abstract

This study aimed to measure the acceptability of an Android-based Rice Black Bug Monitoring System which monitor Rice Black Bugs Bug (Scotinophara coarctata (Fabricius)), locally known as “Itim na Atangya.”, by utilizing an electronic drone with a light trap underneath that records the coordinates and weights of trapped insects. The electronic drone is installed with a high intensity low-energy light-emitting diode (LED) panel or LED-based “black light” to attract rice black bugs which have been reported recently to attack rice crops in southern Luzon. The insect trap is equipped with a weight sensor to monitor the weight of the trapped insects which is used to measure the insect volume. The weight sensor is connected via an Arduino microcontroller board with a built-in WiFi module that connects to a nearby WiFi connection with Internet access to transmit sensed data and GPS coordinates in the online cloud database which can be accessed via a web browser-based application or via the developed Android app for Android-based mobile devices. Through a User Acceptance Test (UAT), the study showed that the designs of both the light trap and the monitoring system have a 3.84 out of 4.0 acceptability rating after evaluated by selected I.T. experts and randomly selected local rice farmers of the Municipality of Catanauan, Quezon where the system was tested, indicating the system has an acceptable quality as a software product and is indicative of readiness for deployment and implementation.