The brown planthopper (BPH) and white-backed planthopper (WBPH), significant rice pests, cannot overwinter in Korea and primarily originate and migrate from Southeast Asia and China, where they cause considerable damage. These planthoppers, along with other pests, annually migrate to the Korean Peninsula. Monitoring their migration is essential for controlling their populations and maintaining agricultural productivity. Traditional monitoring methods often struggle with timeliness due to time and manpower constraints. To address this, we developed the Smart Aerial Net Traps (SANT) for immediate tracking of pests. The SANT system is installed in 43 locations across the country and has been used for over 10 years to track migrating insects. Our research shows that SANT is a more effective method for monitoring migratory pests compared to traditional methods. SANT enables real-time tracking of various migratory pests and can also be utilized in different areas, such as analyzing pest population changes and determining pest origins through the study of air currents.

• Min Hyeuk Lee(Insect Biosystematics Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Korea, Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Korea)
• Hong Hyeon Park(Animal and plant quarantine agency, Korea)
• Junsu Kim(Sumjean E&IT, Korea)
• Dagyeong Jeong(Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Korea)
• Chaehun Paik(Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Korea)