Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.2011,2, 276–283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.32
movements of fish. We show here that artificiallateralline canals equipped with optical flow sensors can be used to detect the water motions generated by a stationary vibrating sphere, the vortices caused by an upstream cylinder or the water (air) movements caused by a passing object. The hydrodynamic
information retrieved from optical flow sensors can be used to calculate bulk flow velocity and thus the size of the cylinder that shed the vortices. Even a bilateral sensor platform equipped with only one artificiallateralline canal on each side is sufficient to determine the position of an upstream
cylinder.
Keywords: artificiallateralline; biomimetics; flow sensor; mechanoreception; optical sensor; Introduction
Nature has invented a stunning diversity of sensory systems whose small size and high sensitivity is so far unmatched by man-made devices. Flow sensors based on hairs are located on the
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Figure 1:
Responses of sensor platform I to a human finger that moved alongside the ALLC with a velocity of a...