Optic flow enrichment via Drosophila head and retina motions to support inflight position regulation

Developing a functional description of the neural control circuits and visual feedback paths underlying insect flight behaviors is an active research area. Feedback controllers incorporating engineering models of the insect visual system outputs have described some flight behaviors, yet they do not...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of theoretical biology 2023-04, Vol.562, p.111416-111416, Article 111416
Main Authors: Yadipour, Mehdi, Billah, Md Arif, Faruque, Imraan A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active vision
Animals
Bio-inspired
Drosophila
Flight, Animal - physiology
Insect
Insecta - physiology
Optic Flow
Output feedback controller
Position
Regulation
Retina
Velocity
Wide field integration
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Summary:Developing a functional description of the neural control circuits and visual feedback paths underlying insect flight behaviors is an active research area. Feedback controllers incorporating engineering models of the insect visual system outputs have described some flight behaviors, yet they do not explain how insects are able to stabilize their body position relative to nearby targets such as neighbors or forage sources, especially in challenging environments in which optic flow is poor. The insect experimental community is simultaneously recording a growing library of in-flight head and eye motions that may be linked to increased perception. This study develops a quantitative model of the optic flow experienced by a flying insect or robot during head yawing rotations (distinct from lateral peering motions in previous work) with a single other target in view. This study then applies a model of insect visuomotor feedback to show via analysis and simulation of five species that these head motions sufficiently enrich the optic flow and that the output feedback can provide relative position regulation relative to the single target (asymptotic stability). In the simplifying case of pure rotation relative to the body, theoretical analysis provides a stronger stability guarantee. The results are shown to be robust to anatomical neck angle limits and body vibrations, persist with more detailed Drosophila lateral-directional flight dynamics simulations, and generalize to recent retinal motion studies. Together, these results suggest that the optic flow enrichment provided by head or pseudopupil rotation could be used in an insect’s neural processing circuit to enable position regulation. [Display omitted] •Optic flow feedback is a major visual feedback tool in insect flight feedback.•Flight position control is challenging when velocity regulation eliminates optic flow.•Articulated head motion is integrated into the optic flow mathematical framework.•An optomotor response output feedback controller is designed sensitive to optic flow.•The closed loop dynamics achieve position regulation for example species and a robot.
ISSN:0022-5193
1095-8541
DOI:10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111416