Research on a Novel Polarization Sensor for Navigation

Navigation technology is an essential ability for the survival and development of animal and human. Navigation sensor plays a key role in exploration, emergency, precision guided weapons, ship and aircraft navigation and satellites positioning system. The desert ant Cataglyphis is able to explore its desert habitat for hundreds of meters while foraging and return back to its nest precisely and on a straight line. For deriving direction information, this animal uses the pattern of polarized light in the sky that arises due to scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere. The analysis of skylight polarization is mediated by specialized photoreceptors and neurons in the visual system of the ant. The polarization sensitivity mechanisms of the ant´s compound eye are analyzed. A novel bionic navigation sensor is presented. The measure principle of the sensor is discussed. The gross structure and the circuit are designed. The math model of the angle measurement is derived in detail and a useful identical equation is obtained. The angle output error was discussed with difference method. The sensor calibration was performed in different light condition, and the introduced noise is analyzed. The sensor performance was tested in different times of the day. The experiment result indicates the new navigation sensor is feasible and effective.