Natural Models for Autonomous Control of Spatial Navigation, Sensing, and Guidance, Part 1.

摘要

This is the final report on the latter stages of a major international review of polarization vision and polarized light - 'New Directions in Biological Research on Polarized Light.' The ultimate goal of this research is to understand polarization vision, polarization communication and polarization camouflage (information transfer) in marine animals, with a view to using what we learn in technological applications. Spatial navigation, sensing and guidance are tasks animals behaving in the real world accomplish every day and some of this is achieved using polarized light, a form of electromagnetic radiation that humans are not capable of accessing without resorting to technology such as filters, cameras and specialized sensors. Our aim is to use the power of biological design in a realm of vision to which we are only now becoming dimly aware. The project is conducting research focused on the visual systems of several groups of vertebrate and invertebrate animals with the goal of understanding how they perceive, process, and analyse visual stimuli. Much of the proposed research will focus on polarized light sensitivity in visible and ultraviolet spectral regions. To carry out this research, two laboratory groups, both of which have worked for several years in collaboration with the Air Force, will join forces internationally. These laboratories, one in the United States and one in Australia, have served as research centers in the areas of visual physiology and ecology of marine and terrestrial animals, with special expertise in visual aspects of ultraviolet and polarized light. The two groups have worked together for over two decades and have an outstanding history of producing new, exciting, and unexpected research findings and publishing in the very best international scientific journals.