What is Ushichka ?
Ushichka is a multi-sensor, multi-channel dataset of multiple echolocating bats flying inside a cave. Echolocating bats emit very loud ultrasonic calls and use returning echoes to detect objects around them. This makes 'sense' when we think of them flying around as individuals - but what happens when they come together in groups? In groups bats end up 'blinding' each other as each member emits loud calls, and tries to listen for its own returning echoes. Despite the noisy surroundings, bat still manage to echolocate in extremely large groups? How do they do this, and how do they adapt their echolocation and flight to theses crazy conditions?
Ushichka is an attempt at unraveling the hitherto unexplored realms of collective behaviour and echolocation in groups of active sensing animals. Ushichka is made of three data streams:
Thermal video : 3 thermal cameras running at 25 fps with intrinsic + extrinsic calibration. This allows 3D tracking of flight trajectories
Multi-channel audio : 12-22 microphones were placed all around the cave to record echolocation calls. With multiple mics places over the cave, we can perform acoustic tracking
LiDAR cave scan : A LiDAR scan of the recording volume where bats flew all through the night provides us a physical description of the space where all the action took place
What does Ushichka mean?
Ushichka is the Bulgarian dimunitive for something small with ears. It is an homage to the place the data was collected - many thanks to Antoniya Hubancheva for coining the name!!
More on Ushichka
To know more about the project, website and other related stuff - check out this blog post.