Off-axis parabolic mirrors to help track mosquito flight in 3D

To this end, Surrey headquartered Optical Surfaces Ltd will supply its optics to the Optical Engineering Group at Warwick University's School of Engineering, which is studying the flight patterns of mosquitos in an EPSRC-funded research project.

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The project will utilise large field-of-view digital holography for accurate 3D tracking of mosquito flight in an elongated flight chamber. Using this video-tracking methodology, researchers will look to quantify the effects on mosquito behaviour of a range of chemicals or devices proposed to eliminate them.

In a statement, Professor David Towers, head of the Optical Engineering Group at Warwick University’s School of Engineering said: "By capturing the diffraction pattern of mosquitoes in a telecentric volume, we can mathematically refocus the scene to obtain their z-axis positions, and therefore record a time-series of accurate 3D coordinates for tracking and analysing their flight behaviour.