FRONTIERS PHOTONICS


ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING


Fighting malaria with spectral analysis


Imaging-equipped drones and smartphones can find mosquito habitats faster, safer and cheaper than existing methods


T


echnology created by a University of South Florida public health researcher is being implemented by


insect control agencies throughout Africa. Associate Professor Benjamin Jacob


created a smartphone app that pairs his algorithm with a drone and satellite images to identify locations of previously unknown mosquito breeding habitats to treat them within the same day. His technology has proven to be so successful, he launched Seek and Destroy, a program that allows him to train government agencies how to use the app in infectious areas in Cambodia, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda – allowing them to quickly and efficiently direct resources to vulnerable areas before disease outbreaks can occur. Jacob has focused much of his research in


Uganda, where malaria is the leading cause of death, especially among children under five. As published in the American Journal of Entomology, he discovered that each of the 120 homes he studied was infested with at least 200 mosquitoes. With the help of the local insect control officers he trained, Jacob destroyed 100% of the identified habitats in 31 days and eliminated the blood parasite level in previously treated and suspected malaria patients in 62 days. The system works by identifying specific


environments and organisms by the spectral fingerprint associated exclusively with a species or habitat. For Seek and Destroy to be successful, Jacob trained the drone to sense and capture image datasets through his algorithms that allow the system to understand key features, like mud or vegetation, based on their fingerprints. Each image is then processed and gridded with identified sources of water on those surfaces. We spoke to Benjamin Jacob while he


was training local communities in Angola. He discussed the important factors in implementing technology for use in new environments and with new end users.


How does the technology detect malaria habitats? I use satellite data in combination with drone technology, which can be controlled within a smartphone application. Drones have been used before to look for mosquito habitats, but they were impeded by canopy cover, cloud shadows, and rain. This technique is more effective because I’m using a combination of different algorithms, for example Random Forests, which allows me to determine the spectral signature of a particular habitat. For example, let’s say I’m looking at


satellite data from GPS coordinates, a 46cm resolution of a particular habitat, such as a rock quarry mosquito habitat. Once I’m able to get the RGB values, which is the reflection of the red, green and blue wavelengths, I can now use that combination within a


Kriging interpolation algorithm in GIS, which has infused into the dashboard inside of a smartphone, for example, and then find all of the other habitats within the satellite image area, such as a village in eastern Angola. By doing so, we’re saving time looking for where these habitats are. With the GPS points, we’re then able


to download them onto a drone, which will hover over the GPS location, and then disperse a small amount of targeted insecticide. Most of the mosquito habitats that form


are very small; they are formed when water collects in vehicle ruts, commercial roadside ditches, or even footprints. These smaller habitats, if easily accessible, can simply be buried by young people (who we also train), but for the larger habitats we use drones. The key point is that we can determine


Water collecting in potholes in roads is enough to create a mosquito habitat 10 Photonics Frontiers 2023


takayanShutterstock.com


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