Spatiotemporal model for depth perception in electric sensing.

Abstract

Electric sensing involves measuring the voltage changes in an actively generated electric field, enabling an environment to be characterized by its electrical properties. It has been applied in a variety of contexts, from geophysics to biomedical imaging. Some species of fish also use an active electric sense to explore their environment in the dark. One of the primary challenges in such electric sensing involves mapping an environment in three-dimensions using voltage measurements that are limited to a two-dimensional sensor array (i.e. a two-dimensional electric image). In some special cases, the distance of simple objects from the sensor array can be estimated by combining properties of the electric image. Here, we describe a novel algorithm for distance estimation based on a single property of the electric image. Our algorithm can be implemented in two simple ways, involving either different electric field strengths or different sensor thresholds, and is robust to changes in object properties and noise.