Insects inspire new acoustic sensors

The way a male mosquito senses the flapping wings of a potential mate is inspiring researchers in Scotland to develop new types of acoustic sensors.

A team from the University of Strathclyde is studying the hearing mechanisms of insects and finding ways to engineer these naturally designed systems into new bio-inspired sensors.

It is proposed these sensors have the potential to improve the industrial use of acoustic sensors and actuators, from medical ultrasound imaging, non-destructive testing of materials and even robot guidance.

Principal investigator Dr Joseph Jackson said the work will require coupling together arrays of sensors and actuators and making them behave in a matter as complex as the interactions on an insect’s antennae.

The work follows studies Jackson did prior to his PhD at the University of Bristol. There Jackson studied the complexity of mosquitoes’ sensory systems. Using focused lasers, he was able to observe the way the mosquitoes’ brush-like antennae, which project away from their head, oscillate when sound is present.