What do dragonflies teach us about missile defense?

Science Daily  July 24, 2019
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratory are examining whether dragonfly-inspired computing could improve missile defense systems, which have the similar task of intercepting an object in flight, by making on-board computers smaller without sacrificing speed or accuracy. In recent computer simulations, faux dragonflies in a simplified virtual environment successfully caught their prey using computer algorithms designed to mimic the way a dragonfly processes visual information while hunting. Missile defense systems rely on established intercept techniques that are computation heavy. The dragonfly model could potentially, shrink the size, weight and power needs of onboard computers. It may lead to ways to intercept maneuvering targets such as hypersonic weapons, home- in on a target with less sophisticated sensors than are currently used. If the research is not applicable to missiles, but the computational model of a dragonfly brain also could have long-term benefits for machine learning and artificial intelligence…read more.