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Modulating narrow-band signals maximizes detection probability of insect-swarms by bats
Most bio-sonar studies have focused on the reception of single target-echoes by echolocating bats. However, under natural conditions insect-targets often occur in swarms. Boonman et al. constructed life-like avatars of mosquitoes and placed them in constellations following natural statistics representing different densities and group sizes. Using a virtual acoustic paradigm they calculated the echoes received for 100 realizations of the swarm. To assess the contribution of insect-shape, they compared the responses to echoes of virtual clouds of point-targets. The authors found that, especially for dense clouds, modulating the emitted narrowband-signal by several kHz greatly enhances detection probability.
Image Credit: Mor Taub, Tel Aviv University.
Citation: (2020) PLoS Computational Biology Issue Image | Vol. 15(12) January 2020. PLoS Comput Biol 15(12): ev15.i12. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pcbi.v15.i12
Published: January 6, 2020
Copyright: © 2020 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Most bio-sonar studies have focused on the reception of single target-echoes by echolocating bats. However, under natural conditions insect-targets often occur in swarms. Boonman et al. constructed life-like avatars of mosquitoes and placed them in constellations following natural statistics representing different densities and group sizes. Using a virtual acoustic paradigm they calculated the echoes received for 100 realizations of the swarm. To assess the contribution of insect-shape, they compared the responses to echoes of virtual clouds of point-targets. The authors found that, especially for dense clouds, modulating the emitted narrowband-signal by several kHz greatly enhances detection probability.
Image Credit: Mor Taub, Tel Aviv University.