Ear deformations in horseshoe bats and its relation to the biosonar system - Bio-inspiration for future sensing systems design

During my Master's I studied the bat bio-sonar system under Dr. Rolf Mueller. In particular we studied a very conspicuous ear motion pattern (shown in the video below) exhibited by greater horseshoe bats and its relation to the bio-sonar system.

My particular role in the project was to develop a three-dimensional model of the moving bat ear. The complete geometry of the ear in one position was obtained using high resolution Computer Tomography. Invivo ear deformation information (sparse) was calculated from high speed stereo video of the ear movements. These two information sources were combined using a finite element formulation to obtain a high resolution digital three dimensional model of the bat ear during the active behavior.

Once the in vivo model of the bat ear was obtained, the reception beampatterns were estimated using previously developed numerical methods. The video below describes the entire project from ear motions in bats to the digital model and finally to the beampattern.

The beampatterns were analysed in the context of the bio-sonar system using signal processing concepts and certain inferences were made.

More details on the project can obtained from our publication and my Master's thesis.