ArticlePLoS computational biology2019
From skylight input to behavioural output: A computational model of the insect polarised light compass.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass.Nature communications · 2025Article
- I2Bot: an open-source tool for multi-modal and embodied simulation of insect navigation.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- A computational model for angular velocity integration in a locust heading circuit.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Passive Polarized Vision for Autonomous Vehicles: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Skylight Polarization Pattern Simulator Based on a Virtual-Real-Fusion Framework for Urban Bionic Polarization Navigation.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- SkyPole-A method for locating the north celestial pole from skylight polarization patterns.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Biomimetic Polarized Light Navigation Sensor: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- CompoundRay, an open-source tool for high-speed and high-fidelity rendering of compound eyes.eLife · 2022Article
- Synaptic targets of photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization ineLife · 2021Article
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- Multimodal interactions in insect navigation.Animal cognition · 2020Review
- Matched-filter coding of sky polarization results in an internal sun compass in the brain of the desert locust.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- A decentralised neural model explaining optimal integration of navigational strategies in insects.eLife · 2020Article
- The Antarium: A Reconstructed Visual Reality Device for Ant Navigation Research.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Two Compasses in the Central Complex of the Locust Brain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many insects navigate by integrating the distances and directions travelled on an outward path, allowing direct return to the starting point. Fundamental to the reliability of this process is the use of a neural compass based on external celestial cues. Here we examine how such compass information could be reliably computed by the insect brain, given realistic constraints on the sky polarisation pattern and the insect eye sensor array. By processing the degree of polarisation in different directions for different parts of the sky, our model can directly estimate the solar azimuth and also infer the confidence of the estimate. We introduce a method to correct for tilting of the sensor array, as might be caused by travel over uneven terrain. We also show that the confidence can be used to approximate the change in sun position over time, allowing the compass to remain fixed with respect to 'true north' during long excursions. We demonstrate that the compass is robust to disturbances and can be effectively used as input to an existing neural model of insect path integration. We discuss the plausibility of our model to be mapped to known neural circuits, and to be implemented for robot navigation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.