BirdFly – Acoustic System for Dispersing Birds in Agricultural Plantations, Aquaculture, and Airports
Entities: Audio and Acoustics Laboratory
Farmers/aquaculturists face major problems when it comes to protecting crops from flocks of birds that can cause damage or even decimate plantations. The damage caused and its control cost national economies many millions of euros and can easily bankrupt small and medium-sized farmers. Several research studies have concluded that one solution is to use systems that emit irritating sounds or bird vocalizations to scare flocks away from agricultural fields. This approach can also be used in other situations, such as airports, photovoltaic solar power plants, urban areas, etc. A sound-based approach offers advantages over others such as high-tech pyrotechnics and the use of poisons.
The work consists of studying and developing a low-cost system that uses different types of sounds, noises that cause discomfort, or imitations of sounds produced by birds at higher levels of the food chain, i.e., birds of prey. The sound generation process can be done using loudspeaker systems or ultrasound transducer arrays.