Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17
From Animal Collectives and Complex Networks to
Decentralized Motion Control Strategies
Arturo Buscarino
1
, Luigi Fortuna
2
, Mattia Frasca
2;
, Alessandro Rizzo
3;y
1
Scuola Superiore di Catania, Laboratorio sui Sistemi Complessi,
via San Nullo 5/i, 95125 Catania, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Elettronica e dei Sistemi,
Universita degli Studi di Catania, viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy
mfrasca@diees.unict.it
3
Politecnico di Bari, Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica,
Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
y
rizzo@deemail.poliba.it
17.1. Collective Behavior and Motion Coordination in Animal Groups
In nature there is plenty of examples where many individuals join together to form a
group which behaves as an entity with its own life. Spectacular examples of animal
groups are: a ock of starlings ying in the evening, a V-shaped formation of geese,
a sh school escaping a predator, an endless line of marching ants, swarms of locusts
ying across the desert, groups of African elephants migrating in search of food or
water [Sumpter (2006)]. Even more examples can be found in human groups.
Animal groups share peculiar properties. First of all, an animal group is a
complex social organization which undergoes continual shape and structural changes
over time and space. In a recent work [Newlands and Porcelli (2008)], employing new
techniques for semi-automatic analysis of size, shape and structure of bluen tuna
schools, the authors derive some statistics on dierent formation types indicated
as cartwheel, surface-sheet, dome, soldier, mixed, ball and oriented, and draw the
conclusion that the variety of observed formations can be explained by taking into
account several trade-os arising in sh schooling. The factors that are involved
in sh schooling are, in fact, competitive and cooperative, such as vision, ability of
nding food, hydrodynamic benets and energy consumption, and the risk of being
eaten while being in a group compared to that taken as solitary individuals. Group
formation derives from the complex interplay of such factors.
Another aspect of living in groups is discussed in [Couzin (2006)]. Animals
that forage or travel in groups are able to nd the location of a food source or
the migration route, even if few individuals have pertinent information. Complex
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