Engineering and Technology

Celestial compass sensor mimics the insect eye for navigation under cloudy and occluded skies

E. Gkanias, R. Mitchell, et al.

Discover how insects navigate using the sun's position, even when it's hidden! This innovative research by Evripidis Gkanias and colleagues from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University presents a groundbreaking sensor inspired by insect eyes, optimizing navigation under various sky conditions.

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Playback language: English

Index

Abstract

Insects use the sun's position for navigation even when it's obscured, by filtering celestial light intensity and polarization through their compound eyes. This research presents a sensor mimicking key aspects of insect eyes, particularly the fan-like arrangement of polarized light receptors. The sensor comprises eight pairs of photodiodes analyzing skylight; a circular-mean model integrates spatial information to estimate solar azimuth. This model shows lower compass errors than alternatives, especially under challenging sky conditions, demonstrating the efficiency and robustness of the insect celestial compass for navigation.

Publisher

Communications Engineering

Published On

Nov 15, 2023

Authors

Evripidis Gkanias, Robert Mitchell, Jan Stankiewicz, Sadeque Reza Khan, Srinjoy Mitra, Barbara Webb

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