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Fire Hawk Optimizer: a novel metaheuristic algorithm
This study proposes the Fire Hawk Optimizer (FHO) as a novel metaheuristic algorithm based on the foraging behavior of whistling kites, black kites and brown falcons. These birds are termed Fire Hawks considering the specific actions they perform to catch prey in nature, specifically by means of setting fire. Utilizing the proposed algorithm, a numerical investigation was conducted on 233 mathematical test functions with dimensions of 2–100, and 150,000 function evaluations were performed for optimization purposes. For comparison, a total of ten different classical and new metaheuristic algorithms were utilized as alternative approaches. The statistical measurements include the best, mean, median, and standard deviation of 100 independent optimization runs, while well-known statistical analyses, such as Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Wilcoxon, Mann–Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis, and Post-Hoc analysis, were also conducted. The obtained results prove that the FHO algorithm exhibits better performance than the compared algorithms from literature. In addition, two of the latest Competitions on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), such as CEC 2020 on bound constraint problems and CEC 2020 on real-world optimization problems including the well-known mechanical engineering design problems, were considered for performance evaluation of the FHO algorithm, which further demonstrated the superior capability of the optimizer over other metaheuristic algorithms in literature. The capability of the FHO is also evaluated in dealing with two of the real-size structural frames with 15 and 24 stories in which the new method outperforms the previously developed metaheuristics.
Journal Article
Flying Camelot
Flying Camelot brings us back
to the post-Vietnam era, when the US Air Force launched two new,
state-of-the art fighter aircraft: the F-15 Eagle and the F-16
Fighting Falcon. It was an era when debates about aircraft
superiority went public-and these were not uncontested discussions.
Michael W. Hankins delves deep into the fighter pilot culture that
gave rise to both designs, showing how a small but vocal group of
pilots, engineers, and analysts in the Department of Defense
weaponized their own culture to affect technological development
and larger political change.
The design and advancement of the F-15 and F-16 reflected this
group's nostalgic desire to recapture the best of World War I air
combat. Known as the \"Fighter Mafia,\" and later growing into the
media savvy political powerhouse \"Reform Movement,\" it believed
that American weapons systems were too complicated and expensive,
and thus vulnerable. The group's leader was Colonel John Boyd, a
contentious former fighter pilot heralded as a messianic figure by
many in its ranks. He and his group advocated for a shift in focus
from the multi-role interceptors the Air Force had designed in the
early Cold War towards specialized air-to-air combat dogfighters.
Their influence stretched beyond design and into larger politicized
debates about US national security, debates that still resonate
today.
A biography of fighter pilot culture and the nostalgia that
drove decision-making, Flying Camelot deftly engages both
popular culture and archives to animate the movement that shook the
foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.
eBook
Complex patterns of collective escape in starling flocks under predation
Collective behaviour of animals has been a main focus of recent research, yet few empirical studies deal with this issue in the context of predation, a major driver of social complexity in many animal species. When starling (Sturnus vulgaris) flocks are under attack by a raptor, such as a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), they show a great diversity of patterns of collective escape. The corresponding structural complexity concerns rapid variation in density and shape of the flock over time. Here, we present a first step towards unravelling this complexity. We apply a time series analysis to video footage of 182 sequences of hunting by falcons on flocks of thousands of starlings close to two urban roosts during winter. We distinguish several types of collective escape by determining the position and movement of individuals relative to each other (which determines darkness and shape of the flock over time) as well as relative to the predator, namely ‘flash expansion’, ‘blackening’, ‘wave event’, ‘vacuole’, ‘cordon’ and ‘split’. We show that the specific type of collective escape depends on the collective pattern that precedes it and on the level of threat posed by the raptor. A wave event was most likely to occur when the predator attacked at medium speed. Flash expansion occurred more frequently when the predator approached the flock at faster rather than slower speed and attacked from above rather than from the side or below. Flash expansion was often followed by split, but in many cases, the flock showed resilience by remaining intact. During a hunting sequence, the frequencies of different patterns of collective escape increased when the frequency of attack by the raptor was higher. Despite their complexity, we show that patterns of collective escape depend on the predatory threat, which resembles findings in fish.
Journal Article
Event-Based Vision Sensor Lifetime Degradation in Low Earth Orbit
We present the first study into the long-term effects of radiation on an Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS) using real-world data from orbit. Falcon Neuro is an experimental, first-of-its-kind payload attached to the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) operating two DAVIS 240C Event-based Vision Sensors. This study considers data gathered by Falcon Neuro between January 2022 and September 2024 over a wide range of scenes from Earth-facing and space-facing sensors. Falcon Neuro contains the first working EVS system in orbit. While EVS radiation degradation has been studied on the ground, this is the first study of degradation for EVS cameras of any kind in a real, uncontrolled environment. EVS pixel circuits are unique, analog, and far more complex than CMOS or CCD cameras. By utilizing distinct and unique features in the data created by the different pixel circuits in the camera, we show that degradation effects over the life of the mission caused by radiation or other sources have been minimal, with only one of the 18 measures displaying a convincing deterioration trend. Ultimately, we demonstrate that DAVIS 240C Event-based Vision Sensors have a high aptitude for surviving long-term space flight.
Journal Article