1 Introduction
When you open your mobile data, do you see the “cellular mobile network” icon and think of honeycombs or the relationship between bees and networks? In fact, cellular mobile networks create a hexagonal coverage area (similar to the construction of a beehive), thus saving construction costs. Currently, with the rapid development across various fields, many knowledge disciplines have established their own complete systems. The intersection of these disciplines often leads to greater innovation and benefits. Biomimetic technology studies the structure and properties of biological systems to provide new design ideas and working principles for engineering technology. Based on this idea, we can draw many inspirations from bees in the field of communication technology.
2 Bee Communication and Zigbee Technology
2.1 Bee Communication Methods
Bees primarily communicate through: chemical means (physiological responses via pheromones), physical means (using wing beats, sounds, and light propagation), and behavioral means (dance language). The communication methods of bees inspire modern communication technology, particularly the “Z” shaped flight pattern (the “∞” shaped dance) which has been mimicked in Zigbee technology.
When bees communicate through dance, the most typical dances are the round dance, crescent dance, and waggle dance. Using their dances, bees can accurately convey the direction, distance, type, quality, and quantity of nectar sources, mobilizing parts of the colony to take action. Scout bees express the distance between the nectar source and the hive through different dance styles: for example, as the distance from the nectar source to the hive increases, the scout bee transitions from the round dance to the crescent dance, and then to the waggle dance, with the waggle dance generally used for longer distance communication.
2.2 Introduction to Zigbee Technology
Zigbee is a low-speed, short-range wireless networking protocol. The Zigbee protocol transmits information through a wireless data transmission network platform, which can consist of up to 65,000 wireless data transmission modules, allowing for a substantial scale. Each Zigbee network data transmission module can be likened to a base station in a mobile network. The current communication range has expanded from a standard 75m to several kilometers, with support for further extension. Additionally, the entire Zigbee network can connect with various existing networks, demonstrating strong practicality and compatibility.
The name “Zigbee” is inspired by the communication methods of bee colonies: bees use a zigzag flight pattern to communicate the location, distance, and direction of discovered food, forming a communication network within the bee community. Similarly, the Zigbee platform is built on multiple data transmission modules that communicate over short distances with low complexity and multiple base stations to achieve long-distance, high-data-rate information transmission. This network structure allows for relatively low performance requirements for each module, thus achieving cost-effective information exchange. For example, comparing the construction costs of Zigbee base stations to mobile communication base stations, a mobile communication base station serving voice communication typically costs over one million RMB, while each Zigbee base station costs less than 1,000 RMB.
This networking approach gives Zigbee technology the following characteristics: low power consumption, reliable data transmission, large network capacity, strong compatibility, low implementation costs, and low latency. This indicates that it is highly suitable for applications such as smart homes, industrial control, automatic meter reading, medical monitoring, sensor network applications, and telecommunications. It is evident that Zigbee technology, inspired by bee communication methods, is highly practical and can facilitate more efficient information exchange in certain areas at a lower cost. Furthermore, Zigbee technology also boasts high security, owing to its networking characteristics.
2.3 Networking Characteristics of Zigbee Protocol
The Zigbee protocol has self-organizing characteristics under certain conditions.
The theoretical maximum number of nodes in a Zigbee network is 65,536, while the theoretical maximum for Wi-Fi is only 32, and Bluetooth’s maximum theoretical nodes are merely 8. This indicates that the theoretical coverage of Zigbee networks is significantly larger than that of existing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks. When individuals each possess a network module terminal, as long as they are within the communication range of the network module, they can quickly form an interconnected network for information transmission.
Any nodes in the network can communicate data with each other. When modules join or leave, the network has an automatic repair function. Due to personnel movement, their network connections may change. The module can also reset the original network by re-searching communication objects to establish their connections, thus achieving the self-organization of Zigbee.
Considering the self-organizing nature of Zigbee technology, I believe this characteristic can enhance the speed of information transmission and the stability of data. I am reminded of the self-organization of chaotic systems, where the movement patterns of biological groups and drone swarms can adjust each individual’s relative position to achieve stability for the entire group. Moreover, they can cooperate and divide tasks while maintaining system stability, exhibiting stability and flexibility not found in individual entities, thus better accomplishing more complex tasks.
3 From Bee Movement to Drone Swarms
3.1 Bee Movement
During collective migration, each bee in the swarm has its own position and velocity. Each bee acts according to its own strategy, which can be categorized into two types: reaching a target position and engaging in social interactions among bees. The social interactions among bees involve two mechanisms: repelling other bees and attracting other bees. These two mechanisms allow bees to maintain a comfortable space while keeping a distance from other bees, enabling them to synchronize movements with specific nearby individuals. The movement of the swarm maintains the stability of the entire colony while providing each bee with comfortable and maneuverable space.
3.2 Collective Intelligence Systems
The concept of collective intelligence systems is introduced, where local interactions among individuals generate a globally consistent phenomenon. However, due to the complexity of biological collective behaviors, such systems are often challenging to study. It can be initially inferred that such behaviors in bee swarms arise from interactions among individual bees. These interactions are often very simple and may only involve a few nearby members of the system in terms of spatial and temporal proximity, but when applied to a large number of individuals and the continuous evolution of biology, they ultimately generate a collective intelligence system with high operational efficiency. If we could abstract and model these intelligent group behaviors, we could develop controllable systems capable of better handling complex problems.
3.3 Drone Swarms
Drone swarms represent such an application. A drone swarm typically refers to multiple drones with autonomous capabilities that achieve real-time data communication to complete tasks such as multi-drone formation and collaborative adjustments, guided by an operator. Drone swarms have the following characteristics:
(1) No central control: Any drone going offline or losing functionality does not affect the overall functionality of the swarm.
(2) Autonomous control: Each drone is responsible for regulating its own movement and can observe nearby individuals to achieve real-time coordination.
(3) Swarm recovery: When a drone falls behind or changes position due to external forces, the remaining drones quickly form a new stable swarm structure to replace the original one.
From the characteristics of drone swarms, we can partially validate the previous inference. In drone systems based on swarm principles, there is no single drone acting as the “brain” to control the entire system; each drone focuses only on a limited number of neighboring individuals. Therefore, the failure of a central drone does not lead to system collapse. Instead, by focusing on neighboring drones, the system forms negative feedback, effectively absorbing the wisdom of the swarm.
4 Outlook
This leads us to marvel at the creative capabilities of biology, from which we can also see the potential of biomimetic technologies. We can extend this to other collective intelligent organisms, such as fish schools forming “fish storms” during foraging and migration; geese flying south in a “V” formation; and ants exhibiting high parallelism and self-organization during movement. We can also abstract many models from these behaviors for breakthroughs in specific fields.
This article has introduced the application of bee communication to self-organizing network technologies, and then to the practical development of drone swarm movement models. Considering the stability afforded by the decentralized model of the drone systems inspired by bee swarms, I have speculated whether introducing a “queen bee” role could enhance the goal-directedness of the entire system. Additionally, the issue of system collapse due to the absence of a central role could be improved by mimicking the behavior of bees selecting a new queen after the old one dies, aiming to enhance the overall agency of the collective intelligence system.
5 Conclusion
It is evident that both Zigbee technology, inspired by the information dissemination methods of bee dances, and drone swarm systems, inspired by the movement of bee colonies, are based on existing behavioral patterns of bees. From the existing behavioral patterns of bees, we can abstract a communication model that facilitates internal coordination functions, applying it to real-life communication technologies to promote innovation in this field. We can derive more creative points based on other characteristics of bees and study other organisms with collective intelligence to provide further inspiration and motivation for breakthroughs in contemporary technology.
Source: Bee Magazine, 2024 Issue 1 (Zhang Yang / College of Information and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Class of 2022; Hu Fuliang / College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University)