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

这个职业项目的长期目标是提高我们对生物群体中信息传输的理解，并将这种理解应用于为自动驾驶车辆合成受生物启发的运动协调算法。鱼群如何对只有少数个体感知到的外部刺激做出集体反应？我们如何才能使一支自动驾驶车队仅用感官感知就能协调它们的移动？为实现这一目标，本研究的目标是：(1)利用估计理论和计算机视觉的工具对鱼群的集体行为进行定量分析；(2)进行实验室实验，验证鱼群利用运动协调来放大外部信号和抑制噪声的假设；(3)构建动力学相互作用网络中信息传递的分析模型框架；以及(4)使用非线性控制工具合成受生物启发的运动协调算法。PI的长期教育目标是培养一个创造性的、严格应用动力学和控制理论的环境，推动不同群体的学生追求STEM教育和职业。为了实现这一目标，教育目标是(1)开展K-12外联活动，扩大少数群体和妇女参与STEM的范围；(2)开创K-12外联框架，利用鱼类的集体行为主题与一名中学教育工作者建立伙伴关系；以及(3)为航空航天本科生提供研究经验。拟议的研究活动的更广泛的意义和重要性在于有望更好地理解生物群体中的集体行为，并提高在工程网络中模拟和合成集体运动的能力。经改进的生物聚集物跟踪工具可用于了解疟疾地区的蚊群；监测磷虾群在碳固存中的作用；以及评估细菌聚集物对人类疾病进程的影响。受生物启发的无人系统协调研究在检查老化的民用基础设施、改进飓风强度预测以及气候变化的环境监测方面具有应用价值。由于缺乏足够的数据来定量分析和模拟大群体中的三维运动，目前还不清楚什么运动协调策略能够在生物系统中产生快速而准确的信息传输。拟议的鱼类跟踪研究将产生新的工具，用于自动、三维重建高密度鱼群中个体鱼的位置、方向和形状。

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.