A seal’s whiskers help to create new sensors for vehicles
Military researchers are studying the structure and principles of seal whiskers.
Experts from the scientific laboratories of the research center of submarine warfare, the US Navy began studies of vibrissa pinnipeds — seals and walruses.
As reported Military.com scientists believe that understanding the device working principle of the seal whiskers, with which they can feel a fish at quite a distance and even to determine its size, you can create new high-precision passive sensors for ships and submarines.
Seals, the basis of the diet is fish, hunt it, using whiskers as a kind of sensor: mustache catch even slight movements of water, for example, occur when the fish is passing through the gills.
Using the vibrissa seals and walruses can be hunted both day and night, and even in murky waters with almost zero visibility. The base of the vibrissa hair are placed in the bag, absorbing part of the oscillation of the animal and perceiving vibrations of a mustache. Finding prey, the seals lift mustache; this increases the sensitivity of the vibrissa.
None of the existing detection systems used by the military, is not capable of such sensitivity, which is capable of seal whiskers.
Ships and submarines to detect enemy objects in water using several methods, which can be divided into active and passive. With the active method of detection sonar system of the ship emits a sound signal and then “listens” to his reflection. Passive systems capture the noise emitted by the enemy ships.
The most promising are passive detection systems. The fact that they during operation do not radiate signals by which they could be detected. While passive systems have some limitations. For example, they are unable to detect the enemy submarine hiding on the border of the thermal layers or near the bottom and not emitting noise.
The new project of the US Navy financed the research Department of the Navy. The completion of the development is not yet defined. In the study, researchers studying the structure of the vibrissa of the dead seals. To date, the researchers were able to make a three-dimensional model seal whisker and print it on a 3D printer. The resulting artificial whisker with characteristics similar to the us animal. Now researchers are trying to reproduce the structure of the hair bags surrounding the base of the vibrissae.
Earlier, the German zoologists have discovered that common seals capable of detecting near-bottom fish hiding in the sand. Scientists have found that animals can detect weak vibrissa movement of water that occurs when fish pass it through their gills, but they would remain stationary. In the experiment, the researchers found that small fluctuations of the water formed by seals or fish swimming by, not disturbing the animals feel the breath of the bottom fish.
Vasily Sychev