Frequently asked questions

How the bjtOS digital hive works

Answers to the most common questions about the bjtOS smart beehive: sensors, coverage, power, anti-theft, varroa, setup and project status. If you can't find what you're looking for, get in touch.

How it works

What is a smart beehive, or connected hive?
A smart beehive is a hive fitted with sensors that measure weight, temperature, humidity and other signals and send them to the beekeeper's phone. This lets you follow the colony remotely, without opening the lid every time. bjtOS is an Italian project that brings this idea to a digital-native hive, designed together with its sensors rather than retrofitted. See the product.
How does bjtOS work, in short?
A small node with sensors sits on the hive, measures weight, climate and activity, and sends the data over LoRa radio to a receiver. The receiver is what carries the data to the cloud: connected to your wifi, or, if you prefer, off-grid at the apiary with a battery, a solar panel and its own IoT SIM. In the cloud you see it on your phone with charts, history and alerts, and if something moves outside normal values you get a notification. How a smart hive works.
What does the hive tell me without opening it?
It tells you how the weight changes, meaning stores and honey production, the brood-nest temperature and humidity, and the level of acoustic activity, continuously. Many checks that today require opening the hive become a reading on your phone, so you open it only when it's really needed. Opening the hive less means disturbing the colony less. What a hive tells you.
Is bjtOS a whole hive or a kit to fit?
bjtOS is designed as a digital-native hive, built with integrated sensors together with an Italian hive manufacturer. The project is in its validation phase, but this part is settled: the hive ships fully assembled and ready to use, with the sensors already in place. It is not a kit to put together. Built for beekeepers.
Is bjtOS really made in Italy?
Yes: bjtOS is designed in Italy and co-developed with an Italian hive manufacturer. Hardware, sensors and the data platform are designed together, not assembled from disconnected parts. It is one of the things that set it apart from generic solutions.

Sensors and data

What sensors are in a bjtOS node?
The main sensors measure weight with load cells under the hive, the temperature and humidity of the brood nest, the outside temperature, humidity and pressure, and the sound level with a microphone. On top of those come the anti-theft sensors: accelerometer, lid contact and GPS on alarm. These are the signals that tell you about stores, climate and colony activity. The technology.
How does it measure the hive weight?
With four load cells placed under the hive, wired to a high-precision converter, which together carry a full hive. The weight is read several times a day and plotted, so you see the curve of the season. Calibration in kilograms on the prototype is under way on the bench (July 2026). Reading the hive scale.
Does the weight really tell me how much honey I have?
The weight curve is one of the most useful signals: it rises during a nectar flow and falls with consumption or after harvesting. It helps you understand when there is a flow, when stores are dropping and when it's worth stepping in, without lifting the hive by hand. Weight alone doesn't count the honey to the gram, but it tracks the trend reliably. Learn more.
Does it measure brood-nest temperature and humidity?
Yes: one sensor measures temperature and humidity inside, plus a second sensor for outside conditions. The climate of the brood nest indicates the health and activity of the brood, and comparing it with the outside helps read the data better. These readings are already live and verified on the prototype (July 2026). The technology.
What is the microphone in the hive for?
The sound of the colony changes before events such as swarming, and a microphone can pick that up. In the node the audio is processed on board: the recording never leaves it, only a synthetic measurement. Sound analysis and swarm prediction are in development (July 2026), waiting on the data collected in the field.
How often does the data arrive?
In normal operation the node transmits at regular intervals, typically about every fifteen minutes, to balance information against battery use. The frequency adapts on its own: more often when the battery is full, less often at night or when energy is scarce. Alerts, such as a suspicious movement, are sent immediately without waiting for the next scheduled transmission.

Connectivity and coverage

Does the hive work even where there is no cellular signal?
Yes: the node on the hive doesn't use the cellular network, but a long-range LoRa radio that reaches the receiver kilometres away. You put the receiver wherever suits you: at home or in a shed on your own wifi, or out in the country with its own IoT SIM. So the hives can sit in an area with no signal, as long as the receiver, within radio range, sits somewhere covered. This is an important difference from systems that put a SIM in every hive. Anti-theft with no subscription.
What is LoRa and why does bjtOS use it?
LoRa is a low-power, long-range radio technology designed to send small packets of data over distance while using very little energy. bjtOS uses it to connect the hives to a single receiver, with no SIM per hive and no subscription to a phone operator. It's what makes the system suited to isolated apiaries and low power consumption.
How far does the signal reach? What is the range?
The design goal is to cover up to a few kilometres in open country between the hive and the receiver, with the range shrinking where there are obstacles such as woods or hills. The real distance depends heavily on the location, and it's one of the things we are measuring in the field (July 2026). Where needed, the receiver is positioned to get good reception from the apiary.
Do I need a SIM or an internet connection at the apiary?
Not in the hives: they talk to the receiver over LoRa, with no cellular network. Only the receiver needs a connection, and you choose which: your own wifi, if the receiver sits at home or in a shed, or an IoT SIM on board if you'd rather leave it out in the country, in which case we supply it, included. Either way it is one connection for the whole apiary, not one per hive. Why no subscription.
How do I see the data on my phone?
You read the data in a web app, a PWA, which you open from your phone or computer browser and can install like an app without downloading it from a store. You get dashboards, historical charts, hive status and alerts, across several apiaries and in several languages. We are also building a desk monitor with a touch screen, to keep the apiary in view in the workshop, and voice integrations with Alexa, Siri and Google. See the product.

Power and autonomy

Does the hive run on battery? How often do I recharge it?
The node powers itself with a small solar panel that charges a battery, so you don't have to think about it. To keep consumption low, the node sleeps between one measurement and the next and adapts how often it transmits to the state of the battery. To give you an idea, we are talking weeks of autonomy even without sunlight; the precise figure in real conditions is part of the field tests under way (July 2026). Powering an off-grid hive.
What happens during days of bad weather or in winter?
The system is built to survive spells without sun: when the battery drops, the node transmits less often and cuts consumption to last longer, giving priority to important alerts. Energy management adapts by itself to the time of day and the charge left. Sizing for winter is part of the field tests under way (July 2026). How it manages energy.
Do I need to bring power to the apiary?
No. The hives run on solar power, and so does the receiver in its off-grid version: battery, solar panel and IoT SIM on board. If instead you have a building within a few kilometres of the apiary, you can keep the receiver there, on mains power and on your own wifi. A gateway that doesn't lose data.

Varroa

Does bjtOS count varroa?
bjtOS helps you monitor varroa drop by photographing the varroa tray from your phone, instead of counting mites by eye. Today the feature guides the capture of the photos and is tuning the automatic count, in training on real data (July 2026). The goal is to give you the drop in mites per day and a history of treatments. The optical varroa counter.
How does the photo-based varroa counter work?
You photograph the sticky board in four shots, one per quadrant; reference markers on the board let the system straighten the images and analyse them. The result is collected per hive, with the mite drop and notes on treatments. It's the same principle as the manual count, but faster and more repeatable. Counting varroa from a photo.
Does it replace the manual count on the board?
That is exactly the idea: make counting the drop faster and less tedious, starting from a photo instead of a magnifier. The method stays the one beekeepers are used to, the natural drop of mites onto the tray. At this stage the automatic count is still being tuned (July 2026), so it supports rather than replaces the beekeeper's own check. How it works.
Does it tell me when to treat for varroa?
The goal is to flag when varroa drop goes past the thresholds worth watching, to help you decide whether and when to act. The reference thresholds follow beekeeping practice on daily mite drop. Fine-tuning these alerts is part of the work under way with field data (July 2026). The varroa counter.

Anti-theft

Does bjtOS have anti-theft? How does it work?
Yes: a motion sensor watches the hive continuously while using very little power, and if someone lifts or moves it, it immediately triggers an alert on your phone. The anti-theft is built into the digital hive, not a separate accessory. We are also building a desk monitor with a touch screen and integrations with Alexa, Siri and Google, so you get the state of the apiary at a glance and by voice. The anti-theft page.
Is there GPS? Can I find the hive if it's stolen?
Yes: a GPS module stays off to save power and switches on when the alarm fires, to attach the position to the alert. So you don't just know the hive has moved, you know where it is. The honest limit is radio range: if the hive is taken far from the receiver, the continuous position no longer arrives, which is why the alert is sent immediately at the first movement. How the anti-theft works.
Does the anti-theft need a subscription?
The bjtOS anti-theft needs no SIM in every hive and no fee to a phone operator, because it talks over LoRa radio to your own receiver. That is a concrete difference from many GPS anti-theft devices for hives, which only work with an active subscription. The anti-theft service is included with the hive, at no extra cost. Anti-theft with no subscription.
Does the anti-theft drain the battery?
No: the sensor on guard uses very little power and stays active even on a low battery, while the thirstier components such as the GPS turn on only when needed, that is on alarm. So continuous surveillance doesn't compromise autonomy. It's the same power-saving principle that governs the whole node. Protecting isolated apiaries.

Setup

Is it hard to install? Do I need a technician?
No, the setup is designed for a beekeeper, not a technician: you do it from your phone in a few steps, by scanning a QR code on the device and following a guided procedure. The receiver connects to the network by itself over cable, or you configure it from your phone. No cables, no computer skills. Setting it up without an engineer.
How many hives can I put under one receiver?
A single receiver collects the data from several hives in the same apiary, so you don't need a network device for every hive. The standard receiver has been tested with about twenty hives (July 2026), and it can sit a few kilometres away from them, wherever there is coverage. For larger apiaries we are developing a multiband receiver, which raises by a lot the number of hives a single unit can follow.
Does it work with my hives?
bjtOS is designed as a digital-native hive co-developed with an Italian manufacturer, so the main route is the hive already designed with sensors: it follows the Dadant-Blatt standard, so frames and supers stay the ones you already use. Adapting the sensors to existing hives is among the things we are evaluating in the validation phase with beekeepers. If you're interested, let us know: it helps us understand what's really needed. For beekeepers.

Data and privacy

Who owns my data?
The data from your hives is yours. The platform is multi-apiary and each account sees only its own data, isolated from everyone else's. bjtOS is designed to keep each beekeeper's data separate right from the database.
Is the data safe? Where is it stored?
From the receiver onwards the data travels encrypted to the cloud and is stored on a dedicated server, with isolation between accounts enforced directly by the database and not just by the software. The hive's radio messages are signed with a dedicated key too: nobody can forge them or replay an alarm, which matters for an anti-theft device. Some sensitive information, such as audio, never leaves the hive: only a synthetic measurement is computed on board.
If I have several apiaries, do I manage them all together?
Yes: the platform is designed to manage several apiaries and many hives from the same account, with an overview and the detail of each individual hive. You can follow everything from your phone, wherever you are. It's especially useful for those with hives spread across several locations. Multi-apiary management.

Price and availability

How much does bjtOS cost?
There is no price yet: bjtOS is in its validation phase and is not for sale. We are defining the product together with hive manufacturers, and with it the pricing model. If you want to be among the first to know, drop us a line at info@bjtos.cloud.
Can I buy it now?
Not yet. As of July 2026 the project is in its field data collection phase, with hive manufacturers and with beekeepers, so the hive is not yet on sale. You can follow us and write to us to stay up to date on the next steps.
Is there a mandatory subscription?
The commercial model is not decided yet, but one underlying technical choice is already made: bjtOS doesn't require a SIM and a fee for every hive, because it uses LoRa radio to a single receiver. This removes one of the recurring costs typical of other systems. How it translates into the final price is part of what we are defining.
How is it different from other smart beehives?
bjtOS focuses on three concrete differences: it's designed in Italy as a digital-native hive, it's solar-powered and it communicates over LoRa with no SIM per hive. Instead of adding sensors to just any hive, the hardware and the platform are born together. And it brings weight, climate, sound, anti-theft and varroa monitoring into a single system. The product.
How can I find out more or stay updated?
You can write to us at info@bjtos.cloud to tell us about your situation and stay updated on the project's progress. Hearing from beekeepers helps us a lot: your needs guide what we build. In the meantime, the Stories articles cover the technology behind bjtOS.

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