Hardware Showcase Marburg 2026
DiMON
DiMON is a new device designed to monitor insects and other small invertebrates without harming them. Instead of collecting and killing specimens like traditional traps, the system gently guides animals through a small imaging chamber. As they pass through, a compact camera and a mirror system capture several high‑resolution images from different angles. The organisms are then released back into their environment unharmed. These images are analysed using artificial intelligence to help identify species and track biodiversity over time. By automatically collecting detailed data, the device can operate continuously with little human intervention. This makes it easier to monitor changes in insect populations across many locations while reducing the need for frequent field visits. DiMON offers a more ethical and efficient way to study biodiversity and helps scientists better understand how insect communities change through the seasons and across landscapes.
DIOPSIS
Better methods for counting insects are desperately needed given recent observations that insect populations have declined dramatically over the past few decades, with dire consequences in ecosystems. Since 2021 Faunabit produces the DIOPSIS insect camera. The camera is developed at: Faunabit B.V. in collaboration with Naturalis, the Netherlands.
It is an advanced, modern system to photograph insects fully automated and to send the photos and associated data. The camera sends images to a server over 4G, but it’s also possible to upload them manually. From there, they can be processed by the insect image recognition model, managed Arise by Naturalis.
EntoCam
The EntoCam is an automated field camera engineered specifically for entomological surveillance, with a particular focus on attracting and taking pictures of moths.
Housed in a weather-resistant casing, the device adapts commercial trail cameras for close-range nocturnal insects monitoring. To attract target specimens, it features a power circuit that drives an external, multi-wavelength LED light. To maximize energy efficiency, this attractant light is dynamically synchronized with the camera, turning off between imaging events.
When insects approach, the system captures high-resolution images at night, using an integrated white flash. Operating on a 12V power supply, the EntoCam can be paired with solar panels or external batteries for long-term deployment. All data is saved locally to a SD card, providing researchers with a robust, scalable tool to study and protect biodiversity.
Entomological Lidar
The entomological lidar is a non-invasive, autonomous and weatherproof optical remote sensing instrument for the detection of insects in flight. By sending out a laser beam with specific infrared wavelengths, the backscattered signals from animals flying through the beam will contain information about their size, wing beating frequencies and spectral properties. This can be used to distinguish insect groups to varying extents in order to determine activity trends and biodiversity. The beam is invisible to most insects, and no behavioral response has been observed yet. Many components are 3D printed to make the instrument cheaper and more accessible. After the initial setup and calibration, data can be collected autonomously 24/7 almost indefinitely. This enables long-term monitoring, which is the goal of a network of 10 lidars currently being set up in southern Scandinavia.
FaunaScan MR2
aunaScan MR2 is a vertically oriented radar system for the quantitative study of aerial fauna. It covers the airspace from a height of 5 m upwards. The maximum detection range depends on size and varies between 150 m (Musca domestica) and 3000 m (Ciconia ciconia). It delivers unprecedented accuracy in quantification and classification, providing new possibilities for bird, bat, and insect measurements with a portable, lightweight, low-power system designed for 24/7 deployment. With real-time data processing, recording and comprehensive analysis, the data for each of the millions of individual objects recorded annually is stored both locally in the system and optionally in the cloud. The system captures altitude, speed, direction, wing-flapping pattern and frequency, polarization pattern (shape features), size estimation (radar-cross section), micro-doppler features and more. The system’s precise calibration ensures accurate aerial biomass measurements for various groups. Its low power consumption makes it ideal for remote deployments.
Insect Detect system
The Insect Detect system can be used for non-invasive automated monitoring of flower-visiting insects and is based on low-cost off-the-shelf hardware components combined with open-source software. Custom trained deep learning models detect and track insects landing on an artificial flower platform in real time on-device and subsequently classify the cropped detections on a local computer. The solar-powered camera trap is fully weatherproof, which enables autonomous deployment during a whole season. On-device detection and tracking can estimate insect activity after metadata post-processing.The camera trap design and open-source software are highly customizable and can be adapted to different use cases.
Insect Detect night
Insect Detect night is an open-source system used for non-invasive automated monitoring of flower-visiting nocturnal insects in their natural habitat. It integrates a monochrome camera with adaptive infrared illumination and a grayscale deep-learning object detection model that runs directly on the device in real time. When an insect is detected, the system triggers an LED ring and an RGB camera to record images suitable for species identification in post-processing. This event-based workflow enables continuous, non-lethal, and low-disturbance monitoring of nocturnal flower visitors.
LepiSense
Insects are of interest for ecologists who study biodiversity and ecosystem health and the impact of external factors such as farming, climate change, and land management on those.
This is because insects are a good indicator for biodiversity since they respond quickly to environmental changes, provide large sample sizes, and play an important role for pollination and in the food chain.
LepiSense features robust lighting to attract insects, a high-resolution camera, and high-capacity data storage. It is powered by a rechargeable battery and solar panel for extended field deployments, but also light-weight enough for frequent relocation. It is specifically designed to make automated monitoring of nocturnal insects scalable by drastically lowering the costs and maximally simplifying the deployment and management of networks of devices. More than 100 prototypes are used around the world – from rooftops in Singapore via agricultural sites in the UK to remote islands in the Caribbean.
LEPMON ARNI
LEPMON is a collaborative project to develop a high quality automatic insect monitoring system for nocturnal insects using automated cameras, AI and citizen involvement. LEPMON aims to be able to monitor a broad range of nocturnal insects, and for this takes high resolution images of a screen to which insects are attracted by UV light, using a 20 mp camera, every two minutes.
The hardware, called Automatic Recorder of Nocturnal Insects (ARNI), was developed specifically for this project, and is currently deployed at over 50 locations throughout Germany, including locations specifically aiming to find rare habitat specialist species, and urbanization gradients to test the ability of the system to answer ecological questions. The system works on both solar and grid power.
The large volumes of data collected are stored in a dedicated storage facility at the LiB in Bonn, and citizen scientists are helping with both identification of insects, and the deployment of traps.
LEPMON ARNI CS
LEPMON is a collaborative project using automated cameras, AI and citizen science to monitor nocturnal insects at a national scale. To achieve this, the project developed the ARNI (Automatic Recorder of Nocturnal Insects) camera system, which exists in two versions:
- ARNI-Pro: The original professional model.
- ARNI-CS: A new, cost-effective version designed for volunteers to deploy across Germany.
Both versions operate on solar or grid power, use a LepiLED UV light to attract insects, and capture photos every two minutes. The ARNI-CS features a 12 MP camera with a 4.7 mm fixed focal length, a 21 cm camera-to-screen distance, and a 26.5 x 15 cm screen.
Images are stored at the LiB facility in Bonn, where citizen scientists can help identify the insects using the LAUP annotation platform (https://lepmon.de/annot8/login) to help train the AI.
miniMon
The miniMon (mini-monitoring device) is a small-sized camera that can be used for monitoring insects and terrestrial arthropods.
The camera records timelapses of images at set intervals (between 30 seconds to 1 hour).
Monitoring of day pollinators is done by either pointing the camera at flowers, or using the platform with 3D printed flowers.
Monitoring of ground-dwelling arthropods is done by pointing the camera at the ground, and a small bathroom tile can be used to improve the visibility of the critters on the ground.
Insect detection is performed offline, by running off-the-shelves deep learning models on the computer.
The camera trap is waterproof and solar powered, enabling continuous monitoring throughout a whole season. The camera trap can be assembled at a low cost (~ 100 EUR), and the hardware, firmware, and analysis software will be open-sourced by the end of 2026.
The Mothbox
The Mothbox is a low-cost, high-performance insect monitor. It features a power-efficient and lightweight design that helps field biologists deploy it in the depths of the jungle. Its low cost means you can deploy many devices to study a landscape or build one to study the biodiversity at your home!
All the physical designs, electronics schematics, Pi Scripts, and insect-IDing Artificial Intelligence are provided free and open source, so you can build, share, and improve on these designs yourself!
NewtCam
NewtCam is an automated underwater camera system for monitoring freshwater wildlife without capturing or handling animals. Organisms move freely through a tunnel where their movement triggers the recording of images or videos. The aquatic unit consists of a camera and a dual lighting system enclosed in a rugged watertight housing with adjustable ballasts for deployment at different depths and imaging orientations. Visible light produces colour images and attracts many taxa, including invertebrates, while near-infrared light produces greyscale images and enables observation of light-averse species. A cable connects the aquatic unit to a battery and a computing unit based on a System on Module integrated into a custom printed circuit board. App4Cam is an open-source, user-friendly configuration application available on GitHub under the GPL v3 licence.