Numerical simulation for identification of insects using a cw lidar system

Mosquitos are the most common vector of disease in the world, causing millions of deaths a year. While curing the diseases they cause is one approach to this problem, another could be to avoid the mosquitos in the first place. Knowing their flight patterns, location, and population in one area could aid in this. Additionally, classifying the mosquitos in an area would be helpful. The age and sex of the mosquito is important to find as they affect the chances of the insect carrying diseases such as malaria or yellow fever.Many current methodologies to monitor insects are based on physical traps, but this method is not timely and cost effective. Therefore, a method of easily finding and identifying mosquitos is desired. Using LIDAR, or light detection and ranging, to characterize insects is much quicker and can identify insects as they pass through a certain area. This provides useful information in real time.In this project, both a numerical simulation and experimental work are presented. In order to establish the effectiveness of our equipment, a MATLAB program was made to evaluate the signal to noise ratio obtained when a mosquito enters the laser beam. In addition, continuous waves of the signals initially sent and received will be compared to find a phase shift. This phase shift will then give us the distance that the insect is from the detector and therefore, the set up. Additional programs will be provided that accomplish various tasks of analyzing the signal found.