DETECTING A PREY IN A SPIDER ORB-WEB FROM IN-PLANE VIBRATION

Spiders perform a task similar to solving an inverse problem when detecting the position of a prey, a mate, or a predator perturbing the orb-web. Recent work has advanced in the study of the orb-web asa sensor when it is subjected to small transverse vibrations, using a continuous membrane model for the orb-web. However, in-plane vibrations have not been investigated yet as data for the prey detection problem. In the present work, we develop the structure of the small in -plane vibratory response of an axially symmetric orb-web supported at the boundary. Additionally, we prove that knowledge of the in-plane dynamic response inside an annulus centered at the origin of the orb-web, where the spider is assumed to stay for a sufficiently large registration time, allows us to determine uniquely the in-plane distributed load simulating the prey's impact. The theoretical outcome is illustrated with a numerical implementation of the reconstruction method.

Automated summary

Researchers have developed the structure of small in-plane vibratory response of an axially symmetric orb-web supported at the boundary, demonstrating that knowledge of the in-plane dynamic response inside an annulus centered at the origin allows for the unique determination of the in-plane distributed load simulating the prey's impact.