Experimental and Computational Investigation of Closed Loop Flight Control in the Hawkmoth Manduca Sexta

天蛾天蛾闭环飞行控制的实验与计算研究

• 批准号: 0732267
• 负责人: Tyson Hedrick
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-01 至 2010-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0732267&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Experimental; Computational; Investigation; Closed; Loop

Dr. Tyson Hedrick will study how animals achieve a variety of stable locomotor behaviors with a limited set of actuators of uncertain performance and a sensory system with inherent and variable delays. Specifically, the flight control of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta will be examined in a closed loop, free flight context using a combination of computational and experimental methods to analyze the system using engineering control theory. Feeding hawkmoths hover in front of the flower from which they draw nectar, and therefore must track the position and orientation of the flower. The flowers from which the hawkmoth feeds also tend to oscillate under the perturbation of a slight breeze or even the downward airflow generated by the moth''s own wings as it hovers near the flower. Thus, the hawkmoth has had to develop an effective tracking behavior, which can be elicited under laboratory conditions where the moth tracks the movements of a mechanically actuated artificial flower. This allows direct experimental manipulation and measurement of both the system input (flower position) and output (moth position) in a biologically relevant whole organism behavior. Furthermore, flower tracking is known to have an optical rather than tactile basis, and optic pathways are subject to large delays of 50 to 150 milliseconds, or 2 to 6 wingbeats. Orientation in flight is also partially sensed via optical pathways and is subject to these same delays. These delays may dominate the function of the controller to the extent that limitations in the neural and sensory systems require damping beyond what would be necessary for the biomechanical system considered separately. The influence of these different factors will be evaluated via extension of a dynamic simulation of the flight of Manduca sexta previously developed; this computational model will be used to evaluate the inferred flight control transfer functions in light of what is physically possible given the moth''s aerodynamics and maximum muscle power output. These results will establish a new system for examining closed loop control in freely behaving animals and will be of interest to researchers seeking to apply control theory to biological systems at a variety of scales. The broader impacts resulting from this proposed research include the exposure of high school and undergraduate students to hands-on, experimental approaches in organismal biology by way of laboratory assistanceships. Results from this research will be made available on the PI''s laboratory web site, presented at national and international conferences, and published in scientific journals. Finally, the results of this research will have applications to the flight and control of micro-air vehicles and other bio-mimentic engineering efforts.

泰森·赫德里克（Tyson Hedrick）博士将研究动物如何实现各种稳定的运动行为，具有不确定性能的有限的执行器和具有固有和可变延迟的感觉系统。具体而言，将使用计算和实验方法组合使用工程控制理论来使用计算和实验方法的组合来检查Hawkmoth Manduca Sexta的飞行控制。 喂食鹰派在它们绘制花蜜的花前悬停，因此必须跟踪花的位置和方向。霍克莫斯进食的花朵也倾向于在轻微微风的扰动下振动，甚至是蛾子自己的翅膀在花附近徘徊时产生的向下气流。因此，霍克莫斯必须发展有效的跟踪行为，在飞蛾跟踪机械驱动的人造花的运动的实验室条件下，该行为可以引起。这允许在生物学相关的整个生物体行为中直接对系统输入（花点位置）和输出（飞蛾位置）进行直接的实验操作和测量。此外，已知花卉跟踪具有光学而不是触觉的基础，并且光学途径的大延迟为50至150毫秒，或2至6个翅膀。 飞行中的方向也通过光学途径部分感知，并受到这些相同的延迟。这些延迟可能会主导控制器的功能，以至于神经和感觉系统中的局限性需要阻尼超出分别考虑的生物力学系统所必需的。这些不同因素的影响将通过扩展先前开发的曼达卡·塞克斯塔飞行的动态模拟来评估；该计算模型将根据蛾的空气动力学和最大的肌肉功率输出来评估所推断的飞行控制转移功能。 这些结果将建立一个新的系统，用于检查自由表现的动物中的闭环控制，并为寻求在各种尺度上将控制理论应用于生物系统的研究人员感兴趣。 这项拟议的研究产生的更广泛的影响包括通过实验室辅助制定高中和本科生在有机生物学方面的实验方法。 这项研究的结果将在PI'的实验室网站上提供，该网站在国家和国际会议上提出，并在科学期刊上发表。最后，这项研究的结果将适用于微型空气车和其他生物敏感工程工作的飞行和控制。