D10 Computer Vision of Formations

Title

D10 describes the three-dimensional reconstruction of the movement of entire flocks using synchronized multi-camera systems and computer vision algorithms, as a method to observe E18, E19 and their anomalies (A10). The central technical challenge is individual tracking in scenes with dozens or hundreds of birds in fast movement and partially occluded; Current systems (e.g. that of Cavagna et al. with 10 cameras at 170 fps) resolve individual trajectories in flocks of up to 2000 starlings. From the trajectories, all the collective variables of the simulator are calculated: distances between neighbors (validation of E19), the Vicsek order parameter (global state of the formation), the geometry of the V (validation of E18 and the vorticity model), and the disturbance propagation speed (v_prop), which in starlings exceeds the individual flight speed and is diagnostic of the robustness of the collective system against A10.

ID:4230