Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns

Insects are model systems for swarming robotic agents, yet engineered descriptions do not fully explain the mechanisms by which they provide onboard sensing and feedback to support such motions; in particular, the exact value and population distribution of visuomotor processing delays are not yet qu...

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Main Authors: Md. Saiful Islam, Imraan A. Faruque
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9704579/?tool=EBI
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author Md. Saiful Islam
Imraan A. Faruque
author_facet Md. Saiful Islam
Imraan A. Faruque
author_sort Md. Saiful Islam
collection DOAJ
description Insects are model systems for swarming robotic agents, yet engineered descriptions do not fully explain the mechanisms by which they provide onboard sensing and feedback to support such motions; in particular, the exact value and population distribution of visuomotor processing delays are not yet quantified, nor the effect of such delays on a visually-interconnected swarm. This study measures untethered insects performing a solo in-flight visual tracking task and applies system identification techniques to build an experimentally-consistent model of the visual tracking behaviors, and then integrates the measured experimental delay and its variation into a visually interconnected swarm model to develop theoretical and simulated solutions and stability limits. The experimental techniques include the development of a moving visual stimulus and real-time multi camera based tracking system called VISIONS (Visual Input System Identification from Outputs of Naturalistic Swarms) providing the capability to recognize and simultaneously track both a visual stimulus (input) and an insect at a frame rate of 60-120 Hz. A frequency domain analysis of honeybee tracking trajectories is conducted via fast Fourier and Chirp Z transforms, identifying a coherent linear region and its model structure. The model output is compared in time and frequency domain simulations. The experimentally measured delays are then related to probability density functions, and both the measured delays and their distribution are incorporated as inter-agent interaction delays in a second order swarming dynamics model. Linear stability and bifurcation analysis on the long range asymptotic behavior is used to identify delay distributions leading to a family of solutions with stable and unstable swarm center of mass (barycenter) locations. Numerical simulations are used to verify these results with both continuous and measured distributions. The results of this experiment quantify a model structure and temporal lag (transport delay) in the closed loop dynamics, and show that this delay varies across 50 individuals from 5-110ms, with an average delay of 22ms and a standard deviation of 40ms. When analyzed within the swarm model, the measured delays support a diversity of solutions and indicate an unstable barycenter.
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spelling doaj.art-5a33a54d0bc7489ab823f3dac9bccb772022-12-22T04:21:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-011711Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patternsMd. Saiful IslamImraan A. FaruqueInsects are model systems for swarming robotic agents, yet engineered descriptions do not fully explain the mechanisms by which they provide onboard sensing and feedback to support such motions; in particular, the exact value and population distribution of visuomotor processing delays are not yet quantified, nor the effect of such delays on a visually-interconnected swarm. This study measures untethered insects performing a solo in-flight visual tracking task and applies system identification techniques to build an experimentally-consistent model of the visual tracking behaviors, and then integrates the measured experimental delay and its variation into a visually interconnected swarm model to develop theoretical and simulated solutions and stability limits. The experimental techniques include the development of a moving visual stimulus and real-time multi camera based tracking system called VISIONS (Visual Input System Identification from Outputs of Naturalistic Swarms) providing the capability to recognize and simultaneously track both a visual stimulus (input) and an insect at a frame rate of 60-120 Hz. A frequency domain analysis of honeybee tracking trajectories is conducted via fast Fourier and Chirp Z transforms, identifying a coherent linear region and its model structure. The model output is compared in time and frequency domain simulations. The experimentally measured delays are then related to probability density functions, and both the measured delays and their distribution are incorporated as inter-agent interaction delays in a second order swarming dynamics model. Linear stability and bifurcation analysis on the long range asymptotic behavior is used to identify delay distributions leading to a family of solutions with stable and unstable swarm center of mass (barycenter) locations. Numerical simulations are used to verify these results with both continuous and measured distributions. The results of this experiment quantify a model structure and temporal lag (transport delay) in the closed loop dynamics, and show that this delay varies across 50 individuals from 5-110ms, with an average delay of 22ms and a standard deviation of 40ms. When analyzed within the swarm model, the measured delays support a diversity of solutions and indicate an unstable barycenter.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9704579/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Md. Saiful Islam
Imraan A. Faruque
Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
PLoS ONE
title Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
title_full Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
title_fullStr Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
title_full_unstemmed Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
title_short Experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
title_sort experimental identification of individual insect visual tracking delays in free flight and their effects on visual swarm patterns
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9704579/?tool=EBI
work_keys_str_mv AT mdsaifulislam experimentalidentificationofindividualinsectvisualtrackingdelaysinfreeflightandtheireffectsonvisualswarmpatterns
AT imraanafaruque experimentalidentificationofindividualinsectvisualtrackingdelaysinfreeflightandtheireffectsonvisualswarmpatterns