A battery-less 5.8 GHz transmitter, compact and
lightweight enough to enable flight of ~90 mg honeybees and free
roaming of bumblebees within their nest, was developed. The
transmitter was coupled to a compact phased array antenna
receiver to achieve angle of arrival (AOA) estimation and bee
localization through a received signal strength indicator approach
(RSSI). The receiver was integrated into a commercial Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to support autonomous position updates
based on the AOA estimates and a software development kit. A
simple model predicting the system detection range was finally
developed and is herein discussed. Our experimental results
provide proof of concept towards autonomous tracking of tagged
bees both in open air and in polytunnel settings.