CAREER: Dynamics and Control of Motion Coordination for Information Transmission in Groups

CAREER项目的长期目标是提高我们对生物群体中信息传递的理解，并将这种理解应用于合成自动驾驶车辆的仿生运动协调算法。鱼群如何对只有少数个体感知的外部刺激做出集体反应？我们怎样才能让一群自动驾驶汽车仅通过感官感知来协调它们的运动呢？为了实现这一目标，研究目标是：(1)利用估计理论和计算机视觉工具对鱼群集体行为进行定量分析；(2)进行室内实验，验证鱼群通过运动协调放大外部信号、衰减噪声的假说；(3)构建动态交互网络中信息传递的分析建模框架；(4)利用非线性控制工具合成仿生运动协调算法。PI的长期教育目标是为动态和控制理论的创造性、严格的应用培养一个有吸引力的环境，推动不同人群的学生追求STEM教育和职业。为了实现这一目标，教育目标是：(1)开展K-12外展活动，扩大少数民族和妇女对STEM的参与；(2)开创了一个K-12外展框架，该框架利用鱼类集体行为的主题与一名中学教育工作者建立了伙伴关系；(3)为航天本科学生提供科研体验。所提出的研究活动的更广泛的意义和重要性在于有希望提高对生物群体集体行为的理解，并提高在工程网络中模拟和综合集体运动的能力。跟踪生物聚集的改进工具可用于了解疟疾地区的蚊子群；监测磷虾群在固碳中的作用；并评估细菌聚集对人类疾病过程的影响。无人系统生物协同研究在老化民用基础设施检测中具有应用价值；改进飓风强度预报；以及对气候变化的环境监测。目前还不清楚在生物系统中，什么样的运动协调策略能产生快速准确的信息传递，因为还没有足够的数据来定量分析和模拟大群体中的三维运动。提出的鱼类跟踪研究将产生新的工具，用于在高密度鱼群中对单个鱼类的位置、方向和形状进行自动化的三维轨迹重建。

The long-term goal of this CAREER project is to improve our understanding of information transmission in biological groups and apply this understanding to synthesize bio-inspired motion- coordination algorithms for autonomous vehicles. How do schooling fish respond collectively to an external stimulus that is perceived by only a few individuals? How might we enable a fleet of autonomous vehicles to coordinate their movement using only sensory perception? In pursuit of this goal, the research objectives are (1) to use tools from estimation theory and computer vision to perform quantitative analysis of collective behavior in schooling fish; (2) to conduct laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis that schooling fish use motion coordination to amplify external signals and attenuate noise; (3) to construct an analytical modeling framework for information transfer in a kinetic interaction network; and (4) to synthesize bio-inspired motion-coordination algorithms using nonlinear-control tools.The long-term educational goal of the PI is to cultivate an engaging environment for creative, rigorous application of dynamics and control theory that propels a diverse population of students to pursue STEM education and careers. In pursuit of this goal, the educational objectives are (1) to conduct K-12 outreach activities that broaden the STEM participation of minorities and women; (2) to pioneer a K-12 outreach framework that uses the topic of collective behavior in fish to create a partnership with a middle-school educator; and (3) to provide research experiences for aerospace undergraduate students.The broader significance and importance of the proposed research activities lie in the promise of improved understanding of collective behavior in biological groups and improved capacity to model and synthesize collective motion in engineered networks. Improved tools for tracking biological aggregations can be used to understand mosquito swarms in malarial regions; to monitor the role of krill swarms in carbon sequestration; and to assess the impact of bacterial aggregations on human disease processes. Research in biologically inspired coordination of unmanned systems has applications in the inspection of aging civil infrastructure; improved forecasts of hurricane intensity; and environmental monitoring of climate variability. It is not presently understood what motion coordination strategies yield fast and accurate information transmission in biological systems because sufficient data to quantitatively analyze and model three-dimensional motion in large groups are not available. The proposed fish-tracking research will yield new tools for automated, three-dimensional trajectory reconstruction of the position, orientation, and shape of individual fish in a high-density school.