Dresden 2009 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 1: Dynamic Processes and Pattern Formation
BP 1.10: Talk
Monday, March 23, 2009, 13:00–13:15, HÜL 186
Entrainment in nonlinear oscillator model of insect flight — •Elena Y. Shchekinova1, Jan Bartussek2, and Martin Zapotocky3 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland — 3Institute of Physiology, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
In the recent insect flight control experiments the wingbeat frequency transitions and short--time entrainment of the wingbeat cycle to the external stimulus was observed during tethered mechanically stimulated flight. Such an alternation of wing kinematics behavior is achievable due to the changes in the oscillatory combinatorial activity of the flight power and control muscles during flight.
We provide a minimal deterministic description of a synchronous activity of insect flight power and steering muscles. The oscillatory dynamics is modeled by a chain of coupled nonlinear oscillators in the regimes close to the dynamical instability threshold. By introducing small periodic parametric modulation in the model frequency transitions and entrainment to the external driving frequency is achieved. Our results aim to elicit entrainment and frequency transitions in wingbeat regimes observed during mechanically stimulated flight experiment.