Abstract:
How does an insect in your backyard conquer a 16,000-kilometer journey across the open ocean? The Globe Skimmer dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) performs a staggering multi-generational migration between India and Africa—a feat that challenges the limits of biological endurance. To solve the mystery of the "marathon in the sky,” we combined ecological observations with advanced aerospace path-planning algorithms.
Our research reveals that these dragonflies are master navigators of the wind; they hitch a ride on the Somali Jet to reach India but must strategically hop across islands like the Maldives to return. In this talk, I’ll discuss how nature’s tiny "architects of flight" utilize global wind patterns to achieve the impossible.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Sandeep Saha is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. With a PhD from Imperial College London and a background spanning CNRS (France) and industry leadership at GE (ALSTOM) and Schlumberger (UK), he bridges the gap between fundamental fluid mechanics and real-world engineering. His expertise ranges from industrial aerodynamics to his current focus on Low Reynolds number flows. Today, Dr. Saha explores the frontiers of flight—from decoding the miraculous migrations of insects to designing extraterrestrial vehicles and optimizing respiratory health, proving that the principles of fluid dynamics govern both the natural and engineered world.
Supported by Arista Networks India Pvt. Ltd