Top

Swarm Intelligence

Published in:

01-12-2013

Trail traffic flow prediction by contact frequency among individual ants

Authors: Hideyasu Sasaki, Ho-fung Leung

Published in: Swarm Intelligence | Issue 4/2013

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Ants build a trail that leads to a new location when they move their colony. The trail’s traffic flows smoothly, regardless of the density on the trail. To the best of our knowledge, such a phenomenon has been reported only for ant species. The trail’s capacity is known as trail traffic flow. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic model of trail traffic flow, which overcomes some inadequacies of the kinetic model previously proposed in the literature. Our model answers a question unsolved by the previous model, namely, how many worker ants form such a density-independent trail. We focus on ants’ responses to mutual contacts that involve individuals in trail formation. We propose a model in which contact frequency predicts the number of worker ants that form a trail. We verify that our model’s estimates match the empirical data that ant experts reported in the literature. In modeling and evaluation, we discuss an intelligent ant species, the house-hunting ant Temnothorax albipennis, which is popular among the ant experts.

previous article A nonlocal kinetic model for predator–prey interactions

next article Artificial bee colonies for continuous optimization: Experimental analysis and improvements

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Available only for authorised users

Balch, T., Dellaert, F., Feldman, A., Guillory, A., Isbell, C. L., Khan, Z., Pratt, S. C., Stein, A. N., & Wilde, H. (2006). How multi-robot systems research will accelerate our understanding of social animal behavior. Proceedings of the IEEE, 94(7), 1445–1463. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2006.876969. CrossRef

Bassler, B. L. (2002). Small talk: cell-to-cell communication in bacteria. Cell, 109(4), 421–424. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00749-3. CrossRef

Berman, S., Halász, Á. M., Kumar, V., & Pratt, S. C. (2007). Bio-inspired group behaviors for the deployment of a swarm of robots to multiple destinations. In Proceedings of the 47th IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA 2007) (pp. 2318–2323). Los Alamitos: IEEE Press. doi:10.1109/ROBOT.2007.363665. CrossRef

Burd, M., Archer, D., Aranwela, N., & Stradling, D. J. (2002). Traffic dynamics of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes. The American Naturalist, 159(3), 283–293. doi:10.1086/338541. CrossRef

Chowdhury, D., Guttal, V., Nishinari, K., & Schadschneider, A. (2002). A cellular-automata model of flow in ant trails: non-monotonic variation of speed with density. Journal of Physics. A, Mathematical and General, 35(41), L573–L577. doi:10.1088/0305-4470/35/41/103. MathSciNetCrossRefMATH

Dornhaus, A., Holley, J.-A., Pook, V. G., Worswick, G., & Franks, N. R. (2008). Why do not all workers work? Colony size and workload during emigrations in the ant Temnothorax albipennis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63(1), 43–51. doi:10.1007/s00265-008-0634-0. CrossRef

Dornhaus, A., Holley, J.-A., & Franks, N. R. (2009). Larger colonies do not have more specialized workers in the ant Temnothorax albipennis. Behavioral Ecology, 20(5), 922–929. doi:10.1093/beheco/arp070. CrossRef

Farji-Brenera, A. G., Amador-Vargasb, S., Chinchillac, F., Escobard, S., Cabrerae, S., Herreraf, M. I., & Sandovalg, C. (2010). Information transfer in head-on encounters between leaf-cutting ant workers: food, trail condition or orientation cues? Animal Behaviour, 79(2), 343–349. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.11.009. CrossRef

Franks, N. R., & Richardson, T. (2006). Teaching in tandem-running ants. Nature, 439(7073), 153. doi:10.1038/439153a. CrossRef

Franks, N. R., Dornhaus, A., Best, C. S., & Jones, E. L. (2006a). Decision making by small and large house-hunting ant colonies: one size fits all. Animal Behaviour, 72(3), 611–616. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.11.019. CrossRef

Franks, N. R., Dornhaus, A., Metherell, B. G., Nelson, T. R., Lanfear, S. A. J., & Symes, W. S. (2006b). Not everything that counts can be counted: ants use multiple metrics for a single nest trait. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 273(1583), 165–169. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3312. CrossRef

Geraghty, M. J., Dunn, R. R., & Sanders, N. J. (2007). Body size, colony size, and range size in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): are patterns along elevational and latitudinal gradients consistent with Bergmann’s rule? Myrmecologische Nachrichten, 10, 51–58.

Gordon, D. M., Paul, R. E., & Thorpe, K. (1993). What is the function of encounter patterns in ant colonies. Animal Behaviour, 45(6), 1083–1100. doi:10.1007/s002650050573. CrossRef

Greene, M. J., & Gordon, D. M. (2007). Interaction rate informs harvester ant task decisions. Behavioral Ecology, 18(2), 451–455. doi:10.1093/beheco/arl105. CrossRef

Halász, Á. M., Hsieh, M. A., Berman, S., & Kumar, V. (2007). Dynamic redistribution of a swarm of robots among multiple sites. In Proceedings of the 20th IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems (IROS 2007) (pp. 2320–2325). Los Alamitos: IEEE Press. doi:10.1109/IROS.2007.4399528. CrossRef

Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1990). The ants. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. CrossRef

John, A., Schadschneider, A., Chowdhury, D., & Nishinari, K. (2008). Characteristics of ant-inspired traffic flow: applying the social insect metaphor to traffic models. Swarm Intelligence, 2(1), 25–41. doi:10.1007/s11721-008-0010-8. CrossRef

John, A., Schadschneider, A., Chowdhury, D., & Nishinari, K. (2009). Traffic like collective movement of ants on trails: absence of jammed phase. Physical Review Letters, 102(10), 108001. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.108001. CrossRef

Kerner, B. S. (1998). Experimental features of self-organization in traffic flow. Physical Review Letters, 81(17), 3797–3800. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3797. CrossRefMATH

Knaden, M., & Wehner, R. (2003). Nest defense and conspecific enemy recognition in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis. Journal of Insect Behavior, 16(5), 717–730. doi:10.1023/B:JOIR.0000007706.38674.73. CrossRef

Lahav, S., Soroker, V., Hefetz, A., & Vander Meer, R. K. (1999). Direct behavioral evidence for hydrocarbons as ant recognition discriminators. Naturwissenschaften, 86, 246–249. doi:10.1007/s001140050609. CrossRef

May, A. D. (1990). Traffic flow fundamentals. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Mallon, E. B., & Franks, N. R. (2000). Ants estimate area using Buffon’s needle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 267(1445), 765–770. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1069. CrossRef

Maschwitz, U., Lenz, S., & Buschinger, A. (1986). Individual specific trails in the ant Leptothorax affinis (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Experientia, 42(10), 1173–1174. doi:10.1007/BF01941298. CrossRef

Miller, M. B., & Bassler, B. L. (2001). Quorum sensing in bacteria. Annual Review of Microbiology, 55, 165–199. doi:10.1146/annurev.micro.55.1.165. CrossRef

Nagel, K., & Schreckenberg, M. (1992). A cellular automaton model for freeway traffic. Journal de Physique. I, 2(12), 2221–2229. doi:10.1051/jp1:1992277. CrossRef

Nicolis, S. C., Theraulaz, G., & Deneubourg, J. L. (2005). The effect of aggregates on interaction rate in ant colonies. Animal Behaviour, 69(3), 535–540. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.06.007. CrossRef

Pratt, S. C. (2005a). Quorum sensing by encounter rates in the ant Temnothorax albipennis. Behavioral Ecology, 16(2), 488–496. doi:10.1093/beheco/ari020. CrossRef

Pratt, S. C. (2005b). Behavioral mechanisms of collective nest-site choice by the ant Temnothorax curvispinosus. Insectes Sociaux, 52, 383–392. doi:10.1007/s00040-005-0823-z. CrossRef

Pratt, S. C. (2008). Efficiency and regulation of recruitment during colony emigration by the ant Temnothorax curvispinosus. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 62(8), 1369–1376. doi:10.1007/s00265-008-0565-9. CrossRef

Pratt, S. C., & Sumpter, D. J. T. (2006). A tuneable algorithm for collective decision-making. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(43), 15906–15910. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604801103. CrossRef

Pratt, S. C., Sumpter, D. J. T., Mallon, E. B., & Franks, N. R. (2005). An agent-based model of collective nest choice by the ant Temnothorax curvispinosus. Animal Behaviour, 70(5), 1023–1036. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.11.001. CrossRef

Şahin, E., & Franks, N. R. (2002a). Simulation of nest assessment behavior by ant scouts. In Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 2463. Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on ants algorithm (ANTS 2002: from ants colonies to artificial ants) (pp. 274–282). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/3-540-45724-0_27.

Şahin, E., & Franks, N. R. (2002b). Measurement of space: from ants to robots. In Proceedings of WGW 2002: EPSRC/BBSRC international workshop biologically-inspired robotics: the legacy of W. Grey Walter, Bristol, UK (pp. 241–247). http://resenv.media.mit.edu/classes/MAS965/readings/SwarmBots.pdf. Accessed 3 July 2012.

Seeley, T. D. (1995). The wisdom of the hive. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Seeley, T. D., & Visscher, P. K. (2004). Quorum sensing during nest-site selection by honeybee swarms. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 56(6), 594–601. doi:10.1007/s00265-004-0814-5. CrossRef

Trianni, V., Tuci, E., Passino, K. M., & Marshall, J. A. R. (2011). Swarm cognition: an interdisciplinary approach to the study of self-organising biological collectives. Swarm Intelligence, 5(1), 3–18. doi:10.1007/s11721-010-0050-8. CrossRef

Ward, A. J. W., Krause, J., & Sumpter, D. J. T. (2012). Quorum decision-making in foraging fish shoals. PLoS ONE, 7(3), e32411. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032411. CrossRef

Wilson, E. O., & Bossert, W. H. (1963). Chemical communication among animals. Recent Progress in Hormone Research, 19, 673–716.

Title: Trail traffic flow prediction by contact frequency among individual ants
Authors: Hideyasu Sasaki
Ho-fung Leung
Publication date: 01-12-2013
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Swarm Intelligence / Issue 4/2013
Print ISSN: 1935-3812
Electronic ISSN: 1935-3820
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11721-013-0085-8

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Premium Partner