The Project

Structure

Function

1 Sep 2004

Project TERMES starts in earnest

17 Oct 2004

We travel to Namibia to reveal the mound structure of Macrotermes michaelseni for the BBC Natural History Unit who are filming a new David Attenborough 'Life on Earth' series. While there, we conduct experiments examining the moisture and permeability of the mound structures. Data from these experiments will go into our model of homeostasis in Macrotermes michaelseni mounds.

We are joined by Jo Darlington, Scott Turner and Eugene Marais to create what must surely be one of the greatest entomological experiences a team of engineers could ever hope to have.

Our trip is hosted by the teams at the Omatjenne research station and the National Museum of Namibia and our warmest thanks go to all of them for making us so welcome and putting such enormous resources at our disposal. Without doubt, this project would not succeed without them.

Jan 2005

By tracking weather and rainfall throughout the year we realise that there are only 2-3 months in Namibia where both the temperature and rainfall are low.  This is the window we decided to go for so that we stood a chance of operating the scanning machine outdoors for so long.  Scanning will be done in 1mm increments and it will take ten minutes to digitally capture each slice which means it will take approximately one month to scan a single mound - and we want to scan two...

Feb 2005

We have three months to to design, build, test and ship the world's largest mobile scanning machine so that we can make the June to August window in the weather.  We needed help, and that's when HelmX stepped in to the driving seat.  Brent and his team began pulling off nothing short of a miracle of engineering at their Birmingham facility.

April 2005

The slice and scan equipment manufacture begins.  Designing the machine from scratch took just two weeks and HelmX pulled out all the stops to meet the deadline.  Progress is remarkable and within another two weeks the steelwork, motors and controllers arrived at Birmingham

May 2005

We identified a suitable scanning method, and with various companies assisting us with the construction process, we can stay on budget.

Our special thanks must go to RS Components, Bonfiglioli and Delcam for supporting us with materials and services - we are indebted to you.  The slice and scan machine begins to emerge from the ground. It's so big we have to hire a warehouse to assemble it in.

June 2005

The machine and all the electronics are in place and testing begins on the 6th June.  We have one week of testing before the machine has to be packed and loaded in to a shipping container ready for shipping to Namibia.  This would normally be a very expensive process because it is a 'one-off' delivery, but John Good and Sons stepped in with an offer of financial assistance - special thanks to them.

Wolf and Eugene Marias organise the excavation of the foundation in Namibia ready for our imminent arrival.

The TERMES project was featured with an interview on BBC Radio 4 "Materials World".

July 2005

Scanning begins on the termite mound for 2 months, night and day.

A number of experiments will be undertaken to determine input and output variables of our CFD model of a Macrotermes michaelseni mound, including mound permeability, colony respiration rate, internal gas concentrations and mound air velocity experiments which begin to measure internal and external environmental conditions including metabolic rates, mound permeability, respiratory gas concentrations and temperature profiles.

Sept 2005

Phase II of the project completed. Successfully sliced and scanned 2500 images to 1½ metres below ground level. The filling technique proved remarkably successful, capturing the finest of details within the mound structure, we were even able to scan the Royal chamber. It was a 2 month challenge working 24 hours a day in hot and dusty conditions.

Recorded interviews for the BBC World Service and BBC Wild In Africa series.

Oct 2005

Complete data set safely delivered to the UK.  We then spent a frantic two weeks cleaning up and normalising the scan images but struggled to handle the shear size of the data (going to need some pretty massive computing capability for this).  We managed to produce 'first pass' 3D visualisations for everything above ground level and also full, low res, 3D rotations of this stunning structure for release on Sir David Attenborough's  'Life In The Undergrowth' launch in mid-November 2005. 

Some interesting features immediately jump out.  There's a much finer channel detail towards the upper sections of the mound and a rapid transition, in the central part of the mound, from many channels to just three main channels leading to the top of the mound.  This may be an effect of the thresholds used for the low res reconstruction and needs to be confirmed in better detail - but already questions being raised as to what it means - we're like children crowded around our birthday  presents.

Dec 2005

Sir David Attenborough's new series 'LIFE IN THE UNDERGROWTH' is screened on BBC1.

The research is featured in the 'Making Of' documentary at the end of Episode 4 on 14th December, and the filming of the termites which the BBC film crew did with us in October 2004 is featured in Episode 5 - 'Super Societies', screened on 21st December 2005.

March 2009

The TERMES Trust is registered in Namibia as a registered charity. Details to follow.