Have you ever wondered how an insect swarm works? How it maintains flight or how for instance a Locust Plague can be so devastating in such short periods of time and even travel 1000 miles in less than a week? Well one group in an online think tank recently asked these questions.
One member stated; "If air velocity increases, as I suspect it does, would it not stand to reason that each bee would have to expend MORE energy to maintain flight, not less? It would be like flying into a head wind.
The ground speed is less to the exact speed of the head wind.
We pretty much all are aware of this effect" I think if you will figure in the rest of the concepts and actual airflows you will see how they do it and also take into consideration the ground cushion.
Faster relative wind created by all the other units in the swarm increase efficiency of the wing.
Just like the faster you go the more airflows over the wing of an aircraft, meaning more lift.
Everyone wins in the swarm.
Except the poor bastard who is the target; that is to say the attackee.
The inquiring member then states; "Some other element must play a part of the flight capability of the bee.
I think that something is a sound wave, backpressure from sound energy that each bee creates with the beat of the wing Well indeed this is why I am entertaining your line of thinking is that it is intriguing and a reasonable question.
And as far as I am concerned, even if you are wrong, well I could care less because, I believe we could make a Mechanical Insect which did thus better natures design and exploiting sound as an additional tool.
Not only for flight, but for communication between MEMs or Micro-MAVs, as well as the sole power source by sending even BLOS sound waves to a point at which the micro-MAV swarm or SmartDust has been sent to.
I am interested in this, way ahead of the screwing around with insects.
Sure lets learn what nature can teach us and never negate 400 million years of evolution of these fantastic creatures, but let's build a better bug for other uses.
Perhaps to interact with the bees to help them do their job better helping us pollinate the fields and we will build them better and safer starting structures from predators and weather for their honeycomb domiciles? Consider this in 2006.