Research Of A Biomimetic Sensor Array For Atmospheric Polarization Information

The sunlight is polarized due to the scattering by air molecules and particles in the atmosphere.The atmospheric polarization pattern which contains a wealth of information is formed by the polarized light with different polarization state. Many insects can take advantage of ommatidium array in compound eye to detect the polarized light, and use polarization-sensitive neurons to process polarization information in order to obtain the azimuth of body axis. The biomimetic method for polarized light detection and for polarization information processing is the key technology to achieve biomimetic polarized light navigation, and it has become hot research in biomimetic navigation field home and abroad. This paper researchs in a biomimetic sensor array for atmospheric polarization information, mainly working on the structure of sensor array and polarization information processing.The main contents are included as below:(1) The causes and distribution of polarized light in the sky is analyzed. The structure of polarization-sensitive ommatidium array and the response mechanism of polarization-sensitive neurons of the insects are researched.(2) A structure of sensor array is designed simulating the structure of polarization-sensitive ommatidium array. And the mathematical expression of output signal of sensor array is derived.(3) A method of polarization information processing is resarched simulating the response mechanism of polarization-sensitive neurons. And the method is simulated and analyzed.(4) With the single rayleigh scattering model, simulation are carried out on the sensor array. The azimuth of sensor array can be obtained accurately and reliablely using the polarization information processing method.