Yuyan Wu.
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02 Enhance weak traces

Fish monitoring

We design whisker-inspired sensors to detect fish wakes amid background flow.

The wavy whisker shape suppresses self-induced vibration in background flow, helping a passing wake stand out. The spiral-perforated base amplifies the vibration response in the target wake-frequency band.

Whisker-inspired sensing · IMAC 2026 ↗

Making fish wakes stand out from background flow

CONCEPTUAL DEMO

Compare a smooth whisker with our wavy whisker and spiral base. Send a fish past to see how each responds amid background flow.

The fish swims left; its tail leaves vortices that trail behind it toward the sensors on the right. The wavy whisker shape reduces flow-induced self-vibration. The spiral base enhances the response in the target wake-frequency band. The sensor comparison is illustrative; waveform shapes reference recorded noise baselines and fish-tail Angular rate Y.
No background flowStronger flow

Wavy shapeSuppresses flow-induced self-vibration

Spiral baseAmplifies the target wake response

More signal, less flow-induced noise

Scroll to explore the figureView full figure
A tapered wavy whisker is attached to a thin square plate with a continuous spiral slit. The wavy profile reduces background-flow noise, while the spiral base amplifies the fish-wake response. The sensing point is beneath the attachment.

Two mechanisms improve signal-to-noise ratio. The wavy whisker reduces background-flow-induced self-vibration. The spiral-perforated base amplifies the fish-wake response in the target frequency band. Paper ↗

Reference

PAPER

  1. [1]

    Y. Wu, S. Giridharan, L. Ma & H. Y. Noh (2026). Seal Whisker-Inspired Sensor for Amplifying Wake-Induced Vibrations in Underwater Marine Animal Monitoring. IMAC-XLIV.Open author preprint (2025): design analysis and frequency-response evaluation.

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