Fighting Dengue Fever with Aerial Drones

Objective
Our goal is to detect breeding places using drones. The detection of the breeding places will happen in two steps. First, the drones will identify areas that need closer investigation at around 300m heights. In the second step, drones visit the waypoints. When coming to a potential breeding place, the task of the drone is to identify if the water is indeed a potential breeding place and whether or not it contains mosquito larvae. The project is expected to investigate several potential solutions to this problem. Once a breeding place with mosquito larvae is detected, the public health authorities and building owners will be informed to ensure removal.

Background
Dengue and Zika are two arboviral viruses that affect a significant portion of the world population. In Sri Lanka alone, the number of dengue cases has been substantial in recent years, with more than 150000 cases and 440 dengue deaths reported in 2017. While there is no direct correlation between the income level of the people and the possibility of being infected by the dengue virus, the economic impact on the poor is much larger despite free healthcare being available in Sri Lanka. The principal vector species of Dengue and Zika viruses are the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. They breed in very slow-flowing or standing water pools. It is important to reduce and control such potential breeding grounds to contain the spread of these diseases.

Crossdisciplinary collaboration
The researchers in the team represent the Information Science and Engineering at KTH and the Connected Intelligence Unit at RISE Research Institute of Sweden. The project cooperates with Kasun De Zoysa, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Watch the recorded presentation at the Digitalize in Stockholm 2023 event: