Integrated Sensing and Processing Sciences, Air Force Research Laboratory-Munitions Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, United States of America. Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2017 May 19;12(3):036013. doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/aa6ccd.
Diverse taxa use Earth's magnetic field to aid both short- and long-distance navigation. Study of these behaviors has led to a variety of postulated sensory and processing mechanisms that remain unconfirmed. Although several models have been proposed to explain and understand these mechanisms' underpinnings, they have not necessarily connected a putative sensory signal to the nervous system. Using mathematical software simulation, hardware testing and the computational neuroscience tool of dynamic neural fields, the present work implements a previously developed conceptual model for processing magnetite-based magnetosensory data. Results show that the conceptual model, originally constructed to stimulate thought and generate insights into future physiological experiments, may provide a valid approach to encoding magnetic field information. Specifically, magnetoreceptors that are each individually capable of sensing directional information can, as a population, encode magnetic intensity and direction. The findings hold promise both as a biological magnetoreception concept and for generating engineering innovations in sensing and processing.
不同的生物类群利用地球磁场来辅助进行短距离和长距离导航。对这些行为的研究导致了各种假设的感觉和处理机制，但这些机制仍未得到证实。尽管已经提出了几种模型来解释和理解这些机制的基础，但它们并没有将假设的感觉信号与神经系统联系起来。本工作使用数学软件模拟、硬件测试和计算神经科学的动态神经场工具，实现了一个以前开发的基于磁铁矿的磁感觉数据处理概念模型。结果表明，该概念模型最初是为了刺激思维并为未来的生理实验提供见解而构建的，它可能为编码磁场信息提供一种有效的方法。具体来说，每个单独能够感知方向信息的磁感受器作为一个群体，可以编码磁场强度和方向。这些发现不仅为生物磁感觉概念提供了希望，也为传感和处理方面的工程创新提供了希望。
