<p>Great question. This is a real problem especially in active sensing animals like echolocating bats as you pointed out. It seems like the key may be in making use of the occasional 'glimpses' that individuals gain because of occasional 'good' echoes that are detected due to the random arrival of calls and echoes at a bat.</p>
<p>If you're searching for a bio-inspired dynamic model with moving agents- then Lin &amp; Abaid 2015 provide a nice simulation framework to understand how jamming affects echo detection and thus movement in groups. Here Lin &amp; Abaid investigate if 'eavesdropping' on others' returning echoes may help bats 'gain' information, while also exploring the parameter space on how often agents call and rely on others' echoes.</p>
<p>Moving to psychoacoustically based modelling approaches - Beleyur &amp; Goerlitz 2019 (I'm coauthor on it) presents a biologically parametrised framework. Here we build a static modelling framework to quantify what a bat in the centre of a group may perceive using many known psychoacoustic and acoustic phenomena. We find that bats in small groups don't really suffer much (&lt;10 bats) loss in neighbour detection. With increasing group sizes echo detection drops majorly down to almost 1 neighbour every second or so. Even though individuals get occasional 'glimpses', we suspect this may just about be enough to drive echolocation in groups.</p>
<p>Another recent psychoacoustics + audition based model is also Mazar &amp; Yovel 2020 - a dynamic model with moving agents that also alter their echolocation. Here they show that the 'jamming avoidance response' doesn't really contribute to reduction in jamming. The 'jamming avoidance response' is a commonly seen response where individual bats seem to shift call frequencies up or down in the presence of other conspecifics.</p>
<h5>References</h5>
<ol>
<li>Lin, Y., &amp; Abaid, N. (2015). Modeling perspectives on echolocation strategies inspired by bats flying in groups. Journal of theoretical biology, 387, 46-53.</li>
<li>Beleyur, T., &amp; Goerlitz, H. R. (2019). Modeling active sensing reveals echo detection even in large groups of bats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(52), 26662-26668.</li>
<li>Mazar, O., &amp; Yovel, Y. (2020). A sensorimotor model shows why a spectral jamming avoidance response does not help bats deal with jamming. Elife, 9.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-06T16:38:35.637Z
2022-07-06T16:38:35.637Z
Thejasvi
<p>Are there any quantitative models that predict how mutual signal jamming affects signal detection in conspecific groups? For instance, echolocating bats in groups will not only perceive the echoes of their own calls but also the calls (and echoes) of other group members. How can they still detect obstacles (or each each other) and prevent collisions?</p>

<echolocation><signal-detection><modeling>
Framework for signal detection in groups
# Framework for signal detection in groups

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-06)

Are there any quantitative models that predict how mutual signal jamming affects signal detection in conspecific groups? For instance, echolocating bats in groups will not only perceive the echoes of their own calls but also the calls (and echoes) of other group members. How can they still detect obstacles (or each each other) and prevent collisions?

**Tags:** echolocation, signal-detection, modeling


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-06. Score: 2

Great question. This is a real problem especially in active sensing animals like echolocating bats as you pointed out. It seems like the key may be in making use of the occasional 'glimpses' that individuals gain because of occasional 'good' echoes that are detected due to the random arrival of calls and echoes at a bat.

If you're searching for a bio-inspired dynamic model with moving agents- then Lin & Abaid 2015 provide a nice simulation framework to understand how jamming affects echo detection and thus movement in groups. Here Lin & Abaid investigate if 'eavesdropping' on others' returning echoes may help bats 'gain' information, while also exploring the parameter space on how often agents call and rely on others' echoes.

Moving to psychoacoustically based modelling approaches - Beleyur & Goerlitz 2019 (I'm coauthor on it) presents a biologically parametrised framework. Here we build a static modelling framework to quantify what a bat in the centre of a group may perceive using many known psychoacoustic and acoustic phenomena. We find that bats in small groups don't really suffer much (<10 bats) loss in neighbour detection. With increasing group sizes echo detection drops majorly down to almost 1 neighbour every second or so. Even though individuals get occasional 'glimpses', we suspect this may just about be enough to drive echolocation in groups.

Another recent psychoacoustics + audition based model is also Mazar & Yovel 2020 - a dynamic model with moving agents that also alter their echolocation. Here they show that the 'jamming avoidance response' doesn't really contribute to reduction in jamming. The 'jamming avoidance response' is a commonly seen response where individual bats seem to shift call frequencies up or down in the presence of other conspecifics.

##### References

1. Lin, Y., & Abaid, N. (2015). Modeling perspectives on echolocation strategies inspired by bats flying in groups. Journal of theoretical biology, 387, 46-53.
2. Beleyur, T., & Goerlitz, H. R. (2019). Modeling active sensing reveals echo detection even in large groups of bats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(52), 26662-26668.
3. Mazar, O., & Yovel, Y. (2020). A sensorimotor model shows why a spectral jamming avoidance response does not help bats deal with jamming. Elife, 9.


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