Objective
The tsetse fly genus Glossina is a carrier of the sleeping sickness and of the Nagana epidemic, which affect the ungulates. Over the past years, the sicknesses carried by the tsetse flies has spread so rapidly that intensified disease-fighting measures were necessary. One of the most effective methods is the exposure of a sterile male. The sterilized flies are raised on a large scale using radiation and then released. During the culture, a continuous control of the quality of the flies is necessary. The objective of this project is to develop an acoustic quality check for the sterile males. The research has demonstrated that the quality control is only possible using the sound activity of the flies.
Method
The tsetse fly uses its flying apparatus to produce sounds in addition to flying. Whereas the flying noise consists mainly of low frequent parts (<2000Hz) with only a few tonal parts, the "singing" consists of tonal components in the range of ca. 1-8kHz. For the detection of the singing, a high-pass-filtered spectrum of the interested frequency range is calculated (using DCT). From this spectrum, three parameters are extracted (energy in local peaks, 95 percent energy bandwidth, variance of the amplitudes), which are suitable for the determination of sounds with distinctive components. These single parameters are converted in weight values between 0 and 1 by using trigger functions. Afterwards, they are merged. The thresholds of the trigger functions are investigated in a separate measuring run from the background signal. The test version of this method was implemented in STx.
Application
The program will be tested on the testse flies at the laboratory in the 2006/2007 winter semester. As a result of initial tests, it will probably be enhanced. As of 2007, the program is planned to be put into practice in an African institute.