DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkjr
title: Data from: High resolution outdoor videography of insects using fast lock-on tracking

description: Insects have significant global impacts on ecology, economy, and health
 and yet our understanding of their behavior remains limited. Bees, for
 example, use vision and a tiny brain to find flowers and return home, but
 understanding how they perform these impressive tasks has been hampered by
 limitations in recording technology. Here we present Fast Lock-On (FLO)
 tracking. This method moves an image sensor to remain focused on a
 retroreflective marker affixed to an insect. Using paraxial infrared
 illumination, simple image processing can localize the sensor location of
 the insect in a few milliseconds. When coupled with a feedback system to
 steer a high magnification optical system to remain focused on the insect,
 a high spatial-temporal resolution trajectory can be gathered over a large
 region. As the basis for several robotic systems, we show FLO is a
 versatile idea which can be employed in combination with other components.
 We demonstrate that the optical path can be split and used for recording
 high-speed video. Furthermore, by flying a FLO system on a quadcopter
 drone, we track a flying honey bee and anticipate tracking insects in the
 wild over kilometer scales. Such systems have the capability of providing
 higher resolution information about insects behaving in natural
 environments and as such will be helpful in revealing the biomechanical
 and neuroethological mechanisms used by insects in natural settings.
description: This dataset consists of files collected throughout the
 development of the Fast Lock-On (FLO) tracking technique. The publication
 "High Resolution Outdoor Videography of Insects Using Fast Lock-On
 Tracking" describes the methods in full detail. In brief, the FLO software
 was used as a key aspect of collecting all data together with FLO robotic
 hardware. There were two main robotic hardware
 implementations used. First was the "Bring Your Own" (BYO)
 camera setup where a high-speed (over 1000 fps possible) camera. For this
 high-speed, high-resolution video, we used a long focal length macro lens
 (Nikon AF Micro Nikkor 200mm f/4D) and camera (Mikrotron MotionBlitz
 EoSens mini1).  This camera was viewing the subject (typically an insect)
 through mirrors and a focus control motor that were controlled by FLO. The
 primary video recordings were recorded by this high-speed
 camera. The second FLO robotic hardware implementation
 was mounted on a quadcopter (Holybro X500 V2) carrying a gimbal-mounted
 stereo camera pair. In this case, video was recorded by the infrared
 tracking cameras (Basler ace 2 a2A1920-160umBAS), the first person view
 (FPV) camera used by the quadcopter pilot (DJI O3 recorded on DJI Goggles
 2), a consumer camera (Sony RX10 IV) operated manually.
 The high-speed videos recorded by the Mikrotron camera were
 encoded with HandBrake to reduce file size. Video from
 tracking cameras used by Strand Camera were recorded live.
 .floz files were recorded by FLO.
description: # Data from: High Resolution Outdoor Videography of Insects Using Fast
 Lock-On Tracking Data from the paper "High Resolution Outdoor
 Videography of Insects Using Fast Lock-On Tracking" by T. Thang
 Vo-Doan, Victor V. Titov, Michael J.M. Harrap, Stephan Lochner, Andrew D.
 Straw The data are organized into directories relating to the figures and
 movies in the paper. There are several file types: `.mp4` files - videos.
 Saved by from the online low latency image processing camera using the
 [Strand Camera](https://strawlab.org/strand-cam) software, exported from a
 high-speed video camera, saved from the drone pilot's goggles, or
 from a consumer video camera. `.floz` files - data saved by the
 [FLO](https://github.com/strawlab/flo) program. These files contain the
 raw, low latency processed image data in the form of centroid positions,
 the estimated motor positions and the motor commands. `README.md` files -
 overview file in each directory. These may list additional files specific
 to that directory. Directories: * `Fig3C-MovieS1-Minidrone` - FLO tracking
 and high-speed videography of a small drone indoors *
 `Fig3D-Movie1-Bombus` - FLO tracking and high-speed videography of bumble
 bee (Bombus terrestris) outdoors * `Fig3E-MovieS5` - FLO tracking and
 high-speed videography of a small drone indoors, in addition to stationary
 multi-camera tracking * `Fig4-Movie2-Apis` - FLO tracking of honey bee
 (Apis mellifera) outdoors from a quadcopter * `MovieS2-Locust` - FLO
 tracking and high-speed videography of locust (Schistocerca gregaria)
 outdoors * `MovieS3-Apis` - FLO tracking and high-speed videography of
 honey bee (Apis mellifera) outdoors * `MovieS4-Bombus` - FLO tracking and
 high-speed videography of bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) outdoors