A 16 pixel yaw sensor for velocity estimation

Abstract

The insect visual system, with its simplicity and efficiency has gained widespread attention and many biologically inspired models are being used for motion detection and velocity estimation tasks. One of the earliest and most efficient models among them is the Reichardt correlator model. In this paper, we have elaborated the basic Reichardt correlator to include spatial and temporal pre-filtering and additional non-linearites which are believed to be present in the fly visual system to develop a simple yaw sensor. We have used just 16 elaborated EMDs and it is seen that this sensor can detect rotational motion at angular velocities up to several thousand degrees per second. The modelling of these sensors make us realize that the VLSI implementation of such simple detectors can have varied applications for flight control in different fields.