How Do Insects Really Fly?

For centuries many scientists and thinkers have tried to figure out how insects fly. They are quite maneuverable and many do quite well considering the controls on an aircraft. Recently in the study of swarms, the question has been raised; when a whole bunch of insects gets together in a swarm do they get an airflow advantage from the group? It stands to reason that they might indeed. So one online think tank member asks;

"The airflow question can be answered by using infrared camera footage; there have to be slight differences in the thermals associated with local toroidal airflow."

There are many ways to look at airflow as insects fly such as allowing them to fly through Kerosene Smoke to allow us to study the Flow Visualization of Low Aspect Ratio Flapping Wings. By using multiple-exposure photography of their wing tip vortex we can visualize with kerosene-smoke and a laser sheet.

If we wanted to control the insects with sound to see if that helps the swarm fly better while watching its effect on their aerodynamics to see if they get a cooperative advantage then indeed we could use lasers to address the ELF, ULF and VLF sound. And also take a look at any buzzing harmonics of the wing. I agree that we should study both.

We need to contact Wilkins and Dickinson at Berkeley and a couple of these folks working on Mechanical Micro-MAVs, As they can give us some insight into which experiment we should do. Also something I have learned in discussing this subject matter;

1. that the engineers in aerospace are out to lunch on insect flight.

2. the engineers on MAVs are just getting up to speed on Insects and

3. the insect folks don't talk with the aerospace folks?

All these folks are stuck in linear categorical thought and have confined themselves to their specific task, unwilling to get off the subject. Which to tell you the truth kind of reminds me that if we stay too focused we could, in fact, miss the clue to the whole thing, whatever that might be. These insects are ahead of us on the winged flight. These Berkeley researchers seem to be forward thinkers and are any but stuck in linear dimensional thought.

In this experiment we can also determine; "If that donut looking air pocket or "bubble" as mentioned above does exist, then the infrared camera should be able to validate or invalidate that suspicion"

Indeed my bubble concept came in from another project concept I was contemplating far and away from the insect model, but what if? And so I asked the question, which is worthy and even if it isn't so what? Because we could create a bubble swarm of micro-mechanical MAVs if we wanted too, and sending rapid-fire pulses the bubble membrane could be maintained and always slightly expanding until you started over. Totally off subject if this is not the case. But still worthy of thought for some other purpose. Perhaps more study is needed for insect flying swarms. So, consider all this in 2006.