In-flight movies go 3D
The most detailed picture of the disturbances created as an insect beats its wings and flies through the air has been recorded by researchers in the Animal Flight Group at Oxford University. They used new 3D imaging technology to capture the wake left behind a locust in fascinating definition. The Oxford researchers worked with the company LaVision to show how the set up involving lasers and high-speed cameras can capture the locust's wake in three dimensions. The video shows the experiment in action: Laser light picks up the movements of a fine mist of oil droplets in the air behind the locust, revealing the disturbances generated over the course of a single wing beat. Previous experimental approaches had to rely on recording individual 2D slices through the wake and stacking them on top of each other to give a 3D picture. Scientists had to hope the wake didn't change to much in the time between capturing each slice, and that they didn't miss fine detail in between the slices. Such detail could be important in calculating the lift and thrust generated by the wings of the locust. The new study , published today in the Journal of the Royal Society: Interface , shows the advantages of the new technique called ' tomographic PIV ', and the circumstances under which the assumptions involved in previous methods fall down. Oxford Science Blog asked Per Henningsson of the Animal Flight Group in the Department of Zoology about the work. OxSciBlog: Why is it important to understand more about insect flight?
