Efficient Nest-Location Estimation in Social Insects Using Harmonic Radar

Theme:

Signal Processing/Localization

Application:

Animal tracking

Contact Person:

 Anastasia Lavrenko

External collabolator:

Intorduction:

Social insects such as wasps and bees repeatedly travel between their nest and foraging locations. Efficiently estimating the next likely location of an insect based on partial trajectory information can dramatically reduce search time when locating nests, especially for rare or invasive species. In this project, you will explore harmonic radar–based tracking of insects equipped with ultra-light nonlinear tags and investigate algorithms and system concepts for efficient next-location estimation. The work combines radar sensing, signal processing, and system integration, with real-world ecological applications. 

Description:

Depending on the project level, the focus can range from algorithmic concepts and simulations to hands-on system integration and field testing. Possible topics include:

• Analysis of insect flight trajectories and movement patterns
• Algorithms for next-location prediction under sparse and noisy measurements
• Harmonic radar system principles and nonlinear tag behavior
• Integration of harmonic radar with UAV platforms
• Radar data processing, tracking, and visualization
• Design of efficient search strategies for nest localization
• Experimental validation using lab data, simulated data, or field measurements

Multiple Bachelor and Master projects are available on this topic.

Requirements:

You are a motivated student looking for a project topic in the field signal processing. You have interest in wireless communication and data analysis and curiosity for interdisciplinary applications. You have skills in MATLAB or Python, basic signal processing, statistics or probabilistic modelling.

Additional Info