Targeting Pavement Ants in Urban Settings
"Ants are among the few species that can handle bidirectional traffic flows, much like our roads, yet they move seamlessly without congestion," explains Marco Guerrieri, a professor specializing in road and railway infrastructure at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering and co-author of the study with Nicola Pugno, professor of solids and structural mechanics at the University of Trento and of materials science at the Queen Mary University of London.
By observing a 30-centimeter ant trail—equivalent to 100 times the body length of each ant—and analyzing video footage with deep learning algorithms, the researchers tracked individual ants' movements, mapping their trajectories, speeds, flows and densities.
"Ants follow pheromone trails marked by a leader ant, and move in platoons with small gaps and no overtaking," notes Guerrieri.
This strategy could make human mobility more efficient. Guerrieri says, "In the future, traffic systems for autonomous vehicles (CAVs) could be inspired by ant behavior. Just like insects communicate through pheromones, on smart roads, Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) could use advanced communication technologies to communicate with each other and with the road infrastructure management. In this way, they could form coordinated platoons, moving at high speeds with close spacing across parallel lanes. This approach could enhance traffic efficiency, improve levels of service, and reduce gas emissions."
Before Deep Learning:
- Can this above ant observation be observed along Stockton Drive Edge at Lincoln Park Lagoon? Can this above ant observation be observed along the Cannon Drive Edge at Lincoln Park Lagoon? Can this above ant observation be observed at the Fullerton Avenue Edge? Why?
- What about at Caldwell Woods of Cook County Forest Preserve District, can this above ant observation be observed along Central Ave/ Carpenter's Rd Edge? Can this above ant observation be observed at Touhy Avenue Edge? Can this above ant observation be observed at the Milwaukee Avenue Edge? Can the above ant observation be observed at the Devon Avenue Edge? Can the above ant observation be observed at the Caldwell Avenue Edge? Can the above ant observation be observed at the Lehigh Avenue Edge? Why?
- Is it possible that fluctuations to the ant population traffic may occur at the above ant site edges? What may cause the ant population traffic fluctuations at the above ant site edges? If any? Why?
