Article
Biology
Naomi Takahashi, Frederick Zittrell, Ronja Hensgen, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Successful navigation relies on an animal's ability to perceive its spatial orientation relative to visual surroundings. In insects, heading direction is represented in the central complex (CX), a navigation center in the brain. The CX neurons are tuned to celestial cues indicating the sun's location. This study investigated whether tuning to the two compass cues, unpolarized sunlight and polarized light, emerges within the CX network or is inherited from input neurons. The results suggest that considerable refinement of azimuth coding based on sky compass signals occurs at the synapses from input neurons to CX compass neurons.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Yueting Yang, Yan Wang, Lei Guo, Bo Tian, Jian Yang, Wenshuo Li, Taihang Chen
Summary: This study demonstrates that nocturnal polarized light is capable of providing accurate and stable navigation information in dim light outdoor environment, and proposes a probability density estimation method for heading determination.
CHINESE JOURNAL OF AERONAUTICS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Baozhong Li, Yanming Liu, Lei Lai
Summary: This paper proposes a bio-inspired neural compass model with 3 DOFs based on the neurophysiological characteristics of head direction cells in mammals' brains, which determines spatial orientations of unmanned vehicles in 3-D environments using angular velocity of head turning. By incorporating external perception information and calibrating cumulative errors of path integration, the model effectively tracks spatial orientations in 3-D environments.
Article
Biology
Tu Anh Thi Nguyen, M. Jerome Beetz, Christine Merlin, Basil el Jundi
Summary: Monarch butterflies migrate from North America to Central Mexico every autumn, relying on celestial cues for orientation. The central complex in their brain helps guide them, with migratory butterflies showing narrower encoding of the sun compared to non-migratory butterflies. This suggests that migratory monarchs need a precise sun compass to keep their direction during their journey.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
G. C. H. E. de Croon, C. De Wagter, T. Seidl
Summary: Researchers have proposed a new method for robots to estimate distances between objects by their visual appearance, which has been successfully implemented on a small flying robot. This approach results in improved performance in tasks such as landing and obstacle avoidance.
NATURE MACHINE INTELLIGENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yiting Tao, Michael Lucas, Asanka Perera, Samuel Teague, Eric Warrant, Javaan Chahl
Summary: In this study, we examined the feasibility of utilizing the Milky Way for maintaining heading in machine vision systems on autonomous vehicles. By measuring its visual features and characteristics, and considering the conditions and sensory systems used by insects, we demonstrated that computer vision methods can accurately extract the Milky Way's orientation. However, higher levels of light pollution can negatively impact navigation systems relying on the Milky Way.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Uwe Homberg, Ronja Hensgen, Stefanie Jahn, Uta Pegel, Naomi Takahashi, Frederick Zittrell, Keram Pfeiffer
Summary: Many arthropods and vertebrates use celestial signals for spatial orientation. The brain's neural network for sky compass coding has been extensively studied in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria, which migrates following rainfall changes. Specialized photoreceptors in their compound eyes detect the polarization of the sky, which combines with direct sun position information to code for head direction. These signals are transmitted to descending neurons for controlling locomotion and flight.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Xuelong Sun, Shigang Yue, Michael Mangan
Summary: The research assessed the function of the central complex in insect navigation, identifying a biologically plausible neural transfer mechanism that helps insects to robustly recover and adapt to different environmental disturbances. Additionally, it was proposed that these circuits can be flexibly repurposed by different insect navigators to address their unique ecological needs.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Qingfeng Dou, Tao Du, Yan Wang, Xin Liu, Wei Wang
Summary: This paper proposes a reliable attitude estimation method based on vector matching measurement models for integration with bionic compound eye polarization compass and low-cost MEMS inertial sensors, which provides a new choice for autonomous navigation in a GPS-denied environment. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulated and outdoor experiments under tree obscuration.
Article
Biology
Brad K. Hulse, Hannah Haberkern, Romain Franconville, Daniel Turner-Evans, Shin-ya Takemura, Tanya Wolff, Marcella Noorman, Marisa Dreher, Chuntao Dan, Ruchi Parekh, Ann M. Hermundstad, Gerald M. Rubin, Vivek Jayaraman
Summary: This study provides the first comprehensive connectome of the Drosophila central complex, identifying new neuron types, sensory and motor pathways, and network motifs involved in navigation computations. Additionally, it uncovers pathways that may facilitate the selection of behavioral patterns driven by the central complex.
Article
Robotics
Pyojin Kim, Haoang Li, Kyungdon Joo
Summary: We propose a drift-free visual compass that estimates the rotational motion of a camera by recognizing structural regularities in a Manhattan world. Our approach hybridizes data sampling and parameter search strategies to achieve quasi-global optimality and high efficiency. Experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and stability.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Richard Massy, Will L. S. Hawkes, Toby Doyle, Jolyon Troscianko, Myles H. M. Menz, Nicholas W. Roberts, Jason W. Chapman, Karl R. Wotton
Summary: The study found that hoverflies use a time-compensated sun compass as their primary navigational mechanism during migration, and they tend to fly south and adjust their orientation under clear and sunny conditions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Susumu Takahashi, Takumi Hombe, Sakiko Matsumoto, Kaoru Ide, Ken Yoda
Summary: Animals demonstrate remarkable navigation abilities, possibly due to the presence of head direction cells that encode the animal's heading information. In the study of shearwater chicks, it was found that their head direction cells exhibited a preference for the north direction, indicating the existence of an internally generated magnetic compass in animals.
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Donghua Zhao, Yueze Liu, Xindong Wu, Hao Dong, Chenguang Wang, Jun Tang, Chong Shen, Jun Liu
Summary: This study focuses on the heading error issue of the polarization compass in unmanned aerial vehicle navigation. A comprehensive analysis of the impact of different attitude angles on the error is conducted, and a novel method using GRU neural network for error modeling and compensation is proposed.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jingwen Chen, Jianjie Luo, Yingwei Pan, Yehao Li, Ting Yao, Hongyang Chao, Tao Mei
Summary: This article presents a new navigation algorithm called Direction-guided Navigator Agent (DNA) that integrates direction clues from instructions into the navigation framework. DNA encodes direction clues in instructions to enhance navigation, and introduces an Instruction Flipping mechanism for fast data augmentation and backward navigation. Extensive experiments on the R2R dataset validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON MULTIMEDIA COMPUTING COMMUNICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Behavioral Sciences
Gunther K. H. Zupanc, Kentaro Arikawa, Charlotte Helfrich-Forster, Uwe Homberg, Peter M. Narins, Wolfgang Rossler, Andrea Megela Simmons, Eric J. Warrant
Summary: This article introduces the winners of the 2022 Editors' Choice Award and Readers' Choice Award in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A, as well as the categories and content of the awarded papers. The Editors' Choice Award winners were selected by the Editorial Board based on highly recommended papers in Volume 207 in 2021, while the Readers' Choice Award winners were determined by access numbers of articles in Volume 206 in 2020.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ronja Hensgen, Frederick Zittrell, Keram Pfeiffer, Uwe Homberg
Summary: The polarization pattern of the sky is used by insects for spatial orientation and navigation. This pattern is influenced by Rayleigh scattering and the position of the sun. In the insect brain, neurons in the central complex (CX) are tuned to the angle of polarization (AoP), forming an internal compass for celestial navigation. The neurons in the CX can reliably encode the AoP even in unfavorable sky conditions with low degrees of polarization (DoP).
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Naomi Takahashi, Frederick Zittrell, Ronja Hensgen, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Successful navigation relies on an animal's ability to perceive its spatial orientation relative to visual surroundings. In insects, heading direction is represented in the central complex (CX), a navigation center in the brain. The CX neurons are tuned to celestial cues indicating the sun's location. This study investigated whether tuning to the two compass cues, unpolarized sunlight and polarized light, emerges within the CX network or is inherited from input neurons. The results suggest that considerable refinement of azimuth coding based on sky compass signals occurs at the synapses from input neurons to CX compass neurons.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Ronja Hensgen, Stefan Dippel, Sophie Hummert, Stefanie Jahn, Jutta Seyfarth, Uwe Homberg
Summary: The central complex in the brain of insects is crucial for spatial navigation, locomotion, and sleep control. A study on the locust central complex identified multiple systems of neurons expressing myoinhibitory peptides (MIPs), which play a role in circadian control and sleep-wake regulation. This research provides new insights into the architecture of the locust central complex and highlights the prominent role of MIPs in its network.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Behavioral Sciences
Gunther K. H. Zupanc, Wolfgang Roessler, Eric J. J. Warrant, Uwe Homberg, Kentaro Arikawa, Charlotte Helfrich-Foerster, Peter M. M. Narins, Andrea Megela Simmons
Summary: The Journal of Comparative Physiology A, which has a history of 99 years, has published influential papers in comparative physiology and related disciplines. The winners of the 2023 Editors' Choice Awards include papers on contact chemoreception in prey sensing by octopus and magnetic maps in animal navigation. The winners of the 2023 Readers' Choice Awards include papers on thermal homeostasis of honeybee colonies and a historical letter on Einstein and the honeybee by von Frisch.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Uwe Homberg, Ronja Hensgen, Stefanie Jahn, Uta Pegel, Naomi Takahashi, Frederick Zittrell, Keram Pfeiffer
Summary: Many arthropods and vertebrates use celestial signals for spatial orientation. The brain's neural network for sky compass coding has been extensively studied in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria, which migrates following rainfall changes. Specialized photoreceptors in their compound eyes detect the polarization of the sky, which combines with direct sun position information to code for head direction. These signals are transmitted to descending neurons for controlling locomotion and flight.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Jens Habenstein, Kornelia Gruebel, Keram Pfeiffer, Wolfgang Roessler
Summary: In this study, the honey bee cerebrum was anatomically and microscopically analyzed using immunolabeling and neuronal tract tracing techniques. A total of 35 neuropils and 25 fiber tracts were discovered. This brain atlas provides valuable information for studying multisensory integration in honey bees and comparative research.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Behavioral Sciences
Uwe Homberg, Keram Pfeiffer
Summary: This article introduces the research on the neural basis of spatial orientation in arthropods, especially insects, and presents a collection of eight review articles and eight original research articles discussing hotspots of research on spatial orientation in various arthropods and the neural circuits involved. These contributions illustrate the wide range of tools arthropods use to master complex navigational challenges, including specific sensory channels and highly sophisticated neural computations.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Marius Beck, Vanessa Althaus, Uta Pegel, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Insects can sense the oscillation plane of polarized light and use it for navigation and visibility enhancement. The peripheral and central mechanisms of sensing the polarization angle of light reflected from objects and surfaces are not well understood. This study investigated the sensitivity of locust brain interneurons to the angle of polarized blue light presented from ventral direction.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Lisa Rother, Robin Mueller, Erwin Kirschenmann, James J. J. Foster, Sinan Kaya-Zeeb, Markus Thamm, Keram Pfeiffer
Summary: The behavioural state of animals affects neuronal information processing. In insects, locomotion has been shown to change the response properties of visual interneurons, but its effect on photoreceptors is unknown. This study found that the visual processing speed of bumblebees significantly increased when they were walking, and this increase was accompanied by a rise in eye temperature. Artificially heating the head confirmed that the walking-induced temperature increase was responsible for the faster processing speed. Walking also accelerated the visual system to the equivalent of a 14-fold increase in light intensity. These findings suggest that the rise in temperature during walking accelerates the processing of visual information, which is advantageous for processing the increased information flow during locomotion.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Frederick Zittrell, Kathrin Pabst, Elena Carlomagno, Ronny Rosner, Uta Pegel, Dominik M. Endres, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Flexible orientation in any environment requires a sense of current heading based on self-motion, with global and local cues providing a reference frame. The insect central complex acts as a navigation center, integrating visual information to form an internal representation of heading. It is unclear how optic flow is integrated into the central-complex network.
FRONTIERS IN NEURAL CIRCUITS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Erich M. Staudacher, Michel-Leon Cigan, Felix Wenz, Aleksandra Pollun, Sascha Beck, Marius Beck, Fabienne Reh, Judith Haas, Uwe Homberg
Summary: In most animals, the brain integrates multiple external and internal signals and transmits them as commands to motor centers. The central complex in insects is a motor control center involved in decision-making and navigation. In desert locusts, it encodes celestial cues indicating a role in sky-compass navigation. A complete analysis of descending brain neurons (DBNs) and their relationship to the central complex is still lacking in locusts.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Stefanie Jahn, Vanessa Althaus, Jannik Heckmann, Mona Janning, Ann-Katrin Seip, Naomi Takahashi, Clara Grigoriev, Juliana Kolano, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Insects have remarkable navigation abilities, and the navigation center in the insect brain, called the central complex (CX), controls spatial orientation and directed locomotion. This study focused on the cockroach CX and found unique organization and attributes, possibly related to the ecological niche of this nocturnal insect.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Uwe Homberg, Michelle Kirchner, Kevin Kowalewski, Vanessa Pitz, Michiyo Kinoshita, Martina Kern, Jutta Seyfarth
Summary: Serotonin functions as a neuromodulator in both vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems. In insects, it affects feeding, olfactory sensitivity, aggressive behavior, and sleep homeostasis in the central complex. This study analyzed the distribution and identity of serotonin-immunoreactive neurons in various insect species, revealing taxon-specific differences in their targets and indicating distinct evolutionary changes in the composition of these neurons in the central complex.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Correction
Behavioral Sciences
Uwe Homberg, Keram Pfeiffer
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)