scholarly journals Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic flow and headwind

2017 ◽  
Vol 220 (11) ◽  
pp. 2005-2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiaran K. K. Lawson ◽  
Mandyam V. Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Response ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Fruit Flies

Pitching Dynamic Response of Variable Sweep Wing Aircraft

2012 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 159-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lai Bin Xu ◽  
Shu Xing Yang ◽  
Bo Mo
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Response ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Center Of Gravity ◽  
Moment Of Inertia ◽  
Morphing Wing ◽  
Wing Morphing

The dynamic response of Variable Sweep Wing Aircraft (VSWA) with the wing sweeping is presented. The center of gravity (cg) of the aircraft, location of each wing partition , and moment of inertia alter significantly due to the wing morphing, resulting in considerably change of the dynamics of the aircraft. The extended equations of motion (EOMs) suitable for morphing wing aircraft are derived. Compared with the traditional EOMs, there are 4 additional forces and moments exhibiting in the extended EOMs due to the wing morphing. The results show that the additional forces and moments can affect the flight control considerably.

scholarly journals The effect of optic flow cues on honeybee flight control in wind

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1943) ◽  
pp. 20203051
Author(s):  
Emily Baird ◽  
Norbert Boeddeker ◽  
Mandyam V. Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Transverse Component ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Ground Speed ◽  
Simple Strategy ◽  
Longitudinal Optic ◽  
Transverse Optic ◽  
Robust Systems

To minimize the risk of colliding with the ground or other obstacles, flying animals need to control both their ground speed and ground height. This task is particularly challenging in wind, where head winds require an animal to increase its airspeed to maintain a constant ground speed and tail winds may generate negative airspeeds, rendering flight more difficult to control. In this study, we investigate how head and tail winds affect flight control in the honeybee Apis mellifera , which is known to rely on the pattern of visual motion generated across the eye—known as optic flow—to maintain constant ground speeds and heights. We find that, when provided with both longitudinal and transverse optic flow cues (in or perpendicular to the direction of flight, respectively), honeybees maintain a constant ground speed but fly lower in head winds and higher in tail winds, a response that is also observed when longitudinal optic flow cues are minimized. When the transverse component of optic flow is minimized, or when all optic flow cues are minimized, the effect of wind on ground height is abolished. We propose that the regular sidewards oscillations that the bees make as they fly may be used to extract information about the distance to the ground, independently of the longitudinal optic flow that they use for ground speed control. This computationally simple strategy could have potential uses in the development of lightweight and robust systems for guiding autonomous flying vehicles in natural environments.

scholarly journals The role of optic flow pooling in insect flight control in cluttered environments

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Lecoeur ◽  
Marie Dacke ◽  
Dario Floreano ◽  
Emily Baird
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Insect Flight ◽  
Cluttered Environments

scholarly journals The influence of visual landscape on the free flight behavior of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance F. Tammero ◽  
Michael H. Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Flight Behavior ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Free Flight ◽  
Visual Contrast

SUMMARY To study the visual cues that control steering behavior in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, we reconstructed three-dimensional trajectories from images taken by stereo infrared video cameras during free flight within structured visual landscapes. Flies move through their environment using a series of straight flight segments separated by rapid turns, termed saccades, during which the fly alters course by approximately 90° in less than 100 ms. Altering the amount of background visual contrast caused significant changes in the fly’s translational velocity and saccade frequency. Between saccades, asymmetries in the estimates of optic flow induce gradual turns away from the side experiencing a greater motion stimulus, a behavior opposite to that predicted by a flight control model based upon optomotor equilibrium. To determine which features of visual motion trigger saccades, we reconstructed the visual environment from the fly’s perspective for each position in the flight trajectory. From these reconstructions, we modeled the fly’s estimation of optic flow on the basis of a two-dimensional array of Hassenstein–Reichardt elementary motion detectors and, through spatial summation, the large-field motion stimuli experienced by the fly during the course of its flight. Event-triggered averages of the large-field motion preceding each saccade suggest that image expansion is the signal that triggers each saccade. The asymmetry in output of the local motion detector array prior to each saccade influences the direction (left versus right) but not the magnitude of the rapid turn. Once initiated, visual feedback does not appear to influence saccade kinematics further. The total expansion experienced before a saccade was similar for flight within both uniform and visually textured backgrounds. In summary, our data suggest that complex behavioral patterns seen during free flight emerge from interactions between the flight control system and the visual environment.

What Drives Bird Senses?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham R. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Binocular Vision ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Predator Detection ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
Prime Function

Many tasks could drive the evolution of bird sensory systems. Key candidates are flight, foraging, predator detection, and reproduction. Comparative analysis of visual fields and retinal structures shows functionally significant differences in the vision of even closely related species. These are best explained by foraging being the primary driver of vision in birds, and this is traded-off against the demands of predator detection. The key task is the control of bill position and timing its arrival at a target. This is achieved by the extraction of information from the optic flow-field which expands symmetrically about the bill when it is travelling towards a target. The provision of such flow-fields is the prime function of binocular vision. Informational demands for flight control are met within constraints determined by those for precise bill control. Other sensory capacities also appear to be driven primarily by the informational demands of foraging.

scholarly journals Nocturnal insects use optic flow for flight control

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Baird ◽  
Eva Kreiss ◽  
William Wcislo ◽  
Eric Warrant ◽  
Marie Dacke
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Flight Tunnel ◽  
Cluttered Environments ◽  
Flying Insects ◽  
Dim Light ◽  
Control Flight

To avoid collisions when navigating through cluttered environments, flying insects must control their flight so that their sensory systems have time to detect obstacles and avoid them. To do this, day-active insects rely primarily on the pattern of apparent motion generated on the retina during flight (optic flow). However, many flying insects are active at night, when obtaining reliable visual information for flight control presents much more of a challenge. To assess whether nocturnal flying insects also rely on optic flow cues to control flight in dim light, we recorded flights of the nocturnal neotropical sweat bee, Megalopta genalis , flying along an experimental tunnel when: (i) the visual texture on each wall generated strong horizontal (front-to-back) optic flow cues, (ii) the texture on only one wall generated these cues, and (iii) horizontal optic flow cues were removed from both walls. We find that Megalopta increase their groundspeed when horizontal motion cues in the tunnel are reduced (conditions (ii) and (iii)). However, differences in the amount of horizontal optic flow on each wall of the tunnel (condition (ii)) do not affect the centred position of the bee within the flight tunnel. To better understand the behavioural response of Megalopta , we repeated the experiments on day-active bumble-bees ( Bombus terrestris ). Overall, our findings demonstrate that despite the limitations imposed by dim light, Megalopta —like their day-active relatives—rely heavily on vision to control flight, but that they use visual cues in a different manner from diurnal insects.

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