Optimal switching strategies for navigation in stochastic settings

Abstract: Inspired by the intermittent reorientation strategy seen in the behavior of the dung beetle, we consider the problem of the navigation strategy of an active Brownian particle moving in two dimensions. We assume that the heading of the particle can be reoriented to the preferred direction by paying a fixed cost as it tries to maximize its total displacement in a fixed direction. Using optimal control theory, we derive analytically and confirm numerically the strategy that maximizes the particle speed, and show that the average time between reorientations scales inversely with the magnitude of the environmental noise. We then extend our framework to describe execution errors and sensory acquisition noise. Our approach may be amenable to other navigation problems involving multiple sensory modalities that require switching between egocentric and geocentric strategies.