Fuzzy Model for a Computer Simulation of Bird Flocking

Iztok Lebar Bajec (2005) Fuzzy Model for a Computer Simulation of Bird Flocking. PhD thesis.

	PDF (Disertacija) Download (1222Kb)
	PDF (Disertacija - zagovor) Download (588Kb)

Abstract

In the dissertation I address the question, “How to use fuzzy logic for modelling bird flocking?” The research was led by the assumption that this complex behaviour could be much more easily described by using simple linguistic descriptions (e.g. collections of if-then rules) than by using mathematical equations. Indeed, most of the existing knowledge about the behaviour of flocks is available in the form of the observer's linguistic descriptions and explanations of the perceived behaviour that were typically obtained during field work. I begin the dissertation by presenting a formal definition of an extended Moore automaton, denoted as the animat, and continue by showing the latter can be used to formalize the most renowned existing bird flocking models. In the rest of the dissertation I employ fuzzy logic to enable the use of linguistic rules for the description of the animats’ behaviour and present the efficiency by developing a fuzzy model for the computer simulation of bird flocking, restrained to a two-dimensional universe without obstacles. A part of the dissertation is also devoted to the definition of metrics that allow a qualitative evaluation of bird flocking models. These metrics are used in the concluding part of the dissertation, where the newly introduced fuzzy model is compared, through a series of controlled experiments, with the most renowned existing ones.

Actions (login required)