Publication Date

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Committee Members

Haibo Dong (Advisor), Nasser Kashou (Committee Member), Hui Wan (Committee Member)

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering (MSEgr)

Abstract

There is a need to explain the complex phenomena that underlies the seemingly effortless flight modes of the dragonfly (Infra -order Anisoptera). However, measuring the body kinematics during flight is labor intensive. Thus a robust system was developed that automatically tracks and quantifies the body kinematics of a dragonfly during voluntary and escape take-offs, as well as maneuvers. Ultimately, the tool, which was developed using a custom code in C++ using the open source library OpenCV (Open Computer Vision), would be used to analyze bulk samples of high speed videos providing raw images at the rate of approximately 1000 frames per second from pair-wise orthogonal positions in space. As a result, there would be a considerably large database of information which may then be used to formulate, generalize and classify standard flight strategies used. Perceptibly, there is also a need to validate the outputs of this tool by comparing it to the outputs of a manual reconstruction.

Page Count

158

Department or Program

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Year Degree Awarded

2012


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