EPSRC-Royal Society fellowship engagement (2013): The mechanics of the insect wing hinge

Lead Research Organisation: University of Oxford
Department Name: Zoology

Abstract

Please refer to attached Royal Society application

Planned Impact

Please refer to attached Royal Society application

Publications

10 25 50
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Bomphrey RJ (2017) Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight. in Nature

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Mokso R (2015) Four-dimensional in vivo X-ray microscopy with projection-guided gating. in Scientific reports

 
Description We have made significant advances in the synchrotron imaging of the insect flight motor using time-resolved microtomography. This includes a high-speed backlit LED illumination system that greatly improved the quality of the images being recorded of the overall wing movements. The technology leading to this (including designing a custom LED driver) and the methodology for analysing the resulting image data was also used in a project investigating the kinematics and aerodynamics of mosquito flight, which was published in Nature in 2017. We have also refined the methodology for recording and processing radiographs and the synchrotron, and this has allowed us to generate a very large dataset for blowflies. The size and quality of this data means it is being used to look at a wide range of research questions and I expect it to remain a highly valuable dataset both for myself and others for years to come.

We successfully created a model based around the four-bar linkage which captures the gross mechanical movement of the insect thorax. This demonstrates how insects convert linear strains produced by the power muscles into the rotary motion of the wings. This work is leading to insights into the optimal orientation and position of the power muscles in the thorax, which may influence the design of micro actuators built around similar principles. Further work shows that almost all of the amplification of this movement occurs within the wing hinge itself. However, linking the kinematics of the wing hinge components to the wider thoracic movements using the four bar linkage model proved more difficult than anticipated. This is largely due to the presence of complex elastic components near the wing hinge and work is still ongoing on this area.

We have created mathematical models of how several of the steering muscles are used to control the wingbeat in blowflies. This demonstrates that each muscle has a subtly different effect on the wing motion and are all compatible with doing negative work. This has led to a new hypothesis that negative work is a feature of all insect steering muscles, allowing them to operate at high frequencies by having low power requirements. It has formed the central core of a successful BBSRC grant application, in collaboration with Dr Askew at University of Leeds, which aims to investigate the functional mechanics and energetics of insect flight muscles.

The high-speed cameras that were purchased on this grant have formed a core component of my research. They have been used extensively on this grant and also by PhD and undergraduate students. They will be an essential tool for my future research, including the above mentioned grant. This includes developing a technique around high-speed macrography to study the detailed external movements of the wing hinge. This has shown how insects make use of a gear-change mechanism to create rapid changes in their wing kinematics.

Static scans from a range of insect species have been collected and analysis is ongoing. We have also used data from synchrotron experiments to analyse the haltere kinematics and dynamics blowflies and compare the structure of the halteres across species. This shows that halteres may be influenced by tethering in a manner not previously thought of. This has implications for behavior and control experiments on insects flight as it means that not all control inputs to the insect's sensory system have been correctly accounted for.
Exploitation Route I expect our findings to have impact to both academics and non-academics. For engineers, I expect that understanding how the insect flight motor transmits forces from the muscles to the wing will be important towards the design of flapping micro air vehicles, and more generally for actuators. This work also provides the best insight into how the different flight muscles are used to control the insect wingbeat, and can therefore be fed into control algorithms.

The nature of the work in this grant is extremely visual and therefore it has immediate impact for non-academics. It will be particularly useful for showcasing modern techniques for understanding complex biological systems.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Electronics
 
Description BBSRC Research Grant, Responsive Mode
Amount £867,356 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/R004439/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start  
 
Description Research Fellows Enhancement Award 2017
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Funding ID RGF\EA\180144 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2017 
End 11/2018
 
Title synchrotron-based time-resolved microtomography 
Description I have further refined the technique of time-resolved microtomography using synchrotron-based imaging. During experiments at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron (Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland) I refined the methodology to capture high-quality scans of insects during tethered flight. This included designing and building a novel LED light system for illuminating the insect, and an independently controlled rotating visual stimulus. I also created a software packing (running in Matlab) that allows quite and effective processing reconstruction of data produced from the synchrotron experiments with minimal user input required. 
Type Of Material Model of mechanisms or symptoms - non-mammalian in vivo 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Both of the LED system and rotating visual stimulus apparatuses will be used for future experiments at the synchrotron and elsewhere. The designs of these have also been passed to other research groups so that they can build similar setups. The software package for processing the synchrotron data is now being used at the Paul Scherrer institute by other research groups and will form an important tool for future experiments there. It is also available for people to download on request. 
 
Description Collaboration with Imperial University and Paul Scherrer Institute for continuing experiments at Swiss Light Source synchrotron 
Organisation Imperial College London
Department Department of Bioengineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This is part of a long-running collaboration for time-resolved synchrotron experiments at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron. I have driven the design of the experiments (recording the insect thorax during flight), including design and fabrication of equipment (e.g. high-speed cameras, infrared lighting), experimental protocol and organisation of the research team.
Collaborator Contribution Imperial College has provided people to assist with experiments both at the design stage (e.g. discussions of optical stimulation) and during experiments (e.g. mounting insects). The Paul Scherrer Institute (where the experiments took place) provided continuous support during experiments.
Impact This long-running collaboration has led to several publication, some predating this grant. Publications Mokso Rajmund, Schwyn Daniel A., Walker Simon M., Doube Michael, Wicklein Martina, Mueller Tonya, Stampanoni Marco, Taylor Graham K., Krapp Holger G.Four-dimensional in vivo X-ray microscopy with projection-guided gating. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 5 8727 (2015) Beamline: TOMCAT Walker Simon M., Schwyn Daniel A., Mokso Rajmund, Wicklein Martina, Mueller Tonya, Doube Michael, Stampanoni Marco, Krapp Holger G., Taylor Graham K.In Vivo Time- Resolved Microtomography Reveals the Mechanics of the Blowfly Flight MotorPLOS BIOLOGY 12 e1001823 (2014)Beamline: TOMCAT We have also been successful in securing more beam time for the next set of experiments. This includes twelve shifts (each eight hours), which take place in April 2016
Start Year 2010
 
Description Collaboration with Imperial University and Paul Scherrer Institute for continuing experiments at Swiss Light Source synchrotron 
Organisation Paul Scherrer Institute
Country Switzerland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This is part of a long-running collaboration for time-resolved synchrotron experiments at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron. I have driven the design of the experiments (recording the insect thorax during flight), including design and fabrication of equipment (e.g. high-speed cameras, infrared lighting), experimental protocol and organisation of the research team.
Collaborator Contribution Imperial College has provided people to assist with experiments both at the design stage (e.g. discussions of optical stimulation) and during experiments (e.g. mounting insects). The Paul Scherrer Institute (where the experiments took place) provided continuous support during experiments.
Impact This long-running collaboration has led to several publication, some predating this grant. Publications Mokso Rajmund, Schwyn Daniel A., Walker Simon M., Doube Michael, Wicklein Martina, Mueller Tonya, Stampanoni Marco, Taylor Graham K., Krapp Holger G.Four-dimensional in vivo X-ray microscopy with projection-guided gating. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 5 8727 (2015) Beamline: TOMCAT Walker Simon M., Schwyn Daniel A., Mokso Rajmund, Wicklein Martina, Mueller Tonya, Doube Michael, Stampanoni Marco, Krapp Holger G., Taylor Graham K.In Vivo Time- Resolved Microtomography Reveals the Mechanics of the Blowfly Flight MotorPLOS BIOLOGY 12 e1001823 (2014)Beamline: TOMCAT We have also been successful in securing more beam time for the next set of experiments. This includes twelve shifts (each eight hours), which take place in April 2016
Start Year 2010
 
Description Mosquito work at RVC 
Organisation Royal Veterinary College (RVC)
Department Pathobiology and Population Sciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This was part of a joint project with myself and Dr Richard Bomphrey at the Royal Veterinary College where we aimed to record and quantify the free-flight kinematics and aerodynamics of mosquitoes. I used skills and equipment that were in part developed from work in this award, including a high-speed infrared LED illumination system and tracking software.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Bomphrey and his team recorded mosquitoes in free-flight, using a setup I helped design. After I extracted out the wing and body kinematics Dr Bomphrey's team used Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling to examine the unique aeroydnamics of mosquito flight.
Impact Our initial collaboration and pilot data led to securing funding from DstL under the Autonomous Systems Underpinning Research programme. This subsequent experiments and analysis has led to a successful submission to Nature, which will be published shortly. Further research papers are expected from this work as analysis continues.
Start Year 2015
 
Title Software package for reconstruction of time-resolved microtomography data 
Description The software package (written in Matlab) allows users to automatically create three-dimensional reconstructions of static or time-resolved tomography data. The software uses a graphical user interface so that it is easy to use by someone with no programming experience. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact Since it's production it was used extensively on the grant, by PhD students working on related areas, and by other research groups at University of Oxford. The software is available to download and has also been sent to Swiss Light Source synchrotron so that it can form a useful tool for other users of the beamline. 
 
Description BioUAS Systems State Of the Art Review 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I gave several talks at the Bio-inspired Unmanned Autonomous Systems (BioUAS) state of the art review meetings and associated telecons in 2015-2017. The aim of these meetings are to bring together researchers, with people from industry and funding bodies (e.g. US Air Force and Dstl). My talks concentrated on the techniques I have developed and the results produced as a direct result of this grant. I expect this to lead to further engagement activities and future funding from industry partners.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016,2017