CAREER: Odor-Guided Flapping Flight: Novel Fluid Dynamic Mechanisms of Insect Navigation

职业：气味引导扑翼飞行：昆虫导航的新型流体动力学机制

• 批准号: 2042368
• 负责人: Chengyu Li
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Villanova University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2042368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Odor; Guided; Flapping; Flight

Insects rely on odor-guided flapping flight to mate and hunt for prey. They navigate by tracking odor trails in complex flow environments to detect and locate distant targets. During this odor-guided navigation, the flapping wings serve for force production and actively draw odor plumes towards the antennae via wing-induced flow. It is hypothesized that the “flapping” used by insects serves the same function as the “sniffing” in mammals for enhancing olfactory detection. Understanding how insects achieve the balance between aerodynamic performance and olfactory sensitivity is the stepping stone towards transforming this feat in engineering solutions for the navigation of miniature aerial vehicles in GPS-denied environments, with important applications for search in natural disasters, chemical leaking monitoring, and drug trafficking detection. To this end, the objective of this project is to establish a physics-driven understanding of the odor-tracking flapping flight in nature. The project also encompasses a variety of education and outreach activities to promote diversity in engineering and strengthen the future STEM workforce.The underlying fluid dynamic principles of olfactory searching in nature remain largely unknown. This project will test the hypothesis that the enhancement of the olfactory sensitivity during navigation can be achieved by regulating the odorant transport in unsteady wing-induced flow through modulating flapping locomotion. A combined high-fidelity computational simulation and theoretical treatment will be used to examine the unsteady flow generated by flapping wings and its associated odorant transport process. The application of a novel computational fluid dynamics-informed simultaneous localization and mapping will be used to explore the odor-tracking algorithms in flying insects. The research will reveal the overarching fluid dynamic mechanisms of odor-guided navigation in nature after the completion of three specific aims: 1) characterize the unsteady aerodynamics and odorant transport in odor-tracking flights; 2) determine the influences of wing-induced unsteady flow on the spatiotemporal distribution of odor plume structures; 3) elucidate the interactions between the unsteady flow and odorant transport during navigation. The findings will advance the development of design principles for bio-inspired flying robots with superior aerodynamic performance and olfactory sensitivity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

昆虫依靠气味引导的拍打飞行来交配和捕食。它们通过在复杂的流动环境中跟踪气味轨迹来检测和定位远处的目标。在这种气味引导的导航过程中，扑翼用于产生力，并通过翼诱导的流动将气味羽流主动吸引到天线。据推测，昆虫使用的“拍打”与哺乳动物的“嗅闻”具有相同的功能，以增强嗅觉检测。了解昆虫如何实现空气动力学性能和嗅觉灵敏度之间的平衡是将这一壮举转化为工程解决方案的垫脚石，用于在GPS拒绝的环境中导航微型飞行器，并在自然灾害搜索，化学品泄漏监测和毒品贩运检测方面具有重要应用。为此，该项目的目标是建立一个物理驱动的理解自然界中的气味跟踪扑翼飞行。该项目还包括各种教育和外展活动，以促进工程的多样性，并加强未来的STEM劳动力。嗅觉搜索在自然界中的基本流体动力学原理在很大程度上仍然未知。本计画将验证一个假设，即在航行期间，借由调整翼面拍动来调整非定常气流中的气味物输送，可以达到嗅觉灵敏度的提升。结合高保真度的计算模拟和理论处理将被用来研究非定常流产生的扑翼和其相关的气味传输过程。应用一种新的计算流体动力学信息的同时定位和映射将被用来探索飞行昆虫的气味跟踪算法。研究目标包括：1）确定气味跟踪飞行中的非定常空气动力学和气味传输特性; 2）确定机翼诱导的非定常流动对气味羽流结构时空分布的影响; 3）阐明飞行过程中非定常流动与气味传输之间的相互作用。该研究结果将推动生物启发飞行机器人的设计原则的发展，具有上级空气动力学性能和嗅觉灵敏度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

项目成果

Aerodynamic explanation of flight speed limits in hawkmoth-like flapping-wing insects

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevfluids.7.093104
• 发表时间: 2022-09-30
• 期刊: PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Lionetti, Seth;Hedrick, Tyson L.;Li, Chengyu
• 通讯作者: Li, Chengyu

A Balance Between Odor Intensity and Odor Perception Range in Odor-Guided Flapping Flight

气味引导扑翼飞行中气味强度与气味感知范围的平衡

• DOI: 10.1115/fedsm2022-85407
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: ASME 2022 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
• 作者: Lei, Menglong;Li, Chengyu
• 通讯作者: Li, Chengyu

Effects of wing pitch kinematics on both aerodynamic and olfactory functions in an upwind surge

• DOI: 10.1177/0954406220907950
• 发表时间: 2020-02-25
• 期刊: PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS PART C-JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
• 影响因子: 2
• 作者: Li, Chengyu

Effects of Wing Kinematics on Modulating Odor Plume Structures in the Odor Tracking Flight of Fruit Flies

果蝇气味追踪飞行中机翼运动学对调节气味羽结构的影响

• DOI: 10.1115/fedsm2021-61832
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: ASME 2021 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
• 作者: Lei, Menglong;Li, Chengyu
• 通讯作者: Li, Chengyu

Numerical investigation of olfactory performance in upwind surging hawkmoth flight

逆风涌动天蛾飞行嗅觉性能的数值研究

• DOI: 10.2514/6.2023-4242
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: AIAA paper
• 作者: Lionetti, Seth;Hedrick, Tyson L.;Li, Chengyu
• 通讯作者: Li, Chengyu