• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.256-261
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• 2016

An insect-like flapping-wing flying-robot should be able to produce flight forces and control moments at the same time only by flapping wings, because there is no control surface at tail just like an insect. In this paper, design principles for the flapping mechanism and control moment generator are briefly explained, characteristics measured force and moment generations of the robot are presented, and finally controlled flight of the flying robot is demonstrated. The present insect-like robot comprises a lightweight flapping mechanism that can produce a flapping angle larger than $180^{\circ}$ and a control moment generator that produces pitch, roll, and yaw moments by adjusting location of the trailing edges at the wing roots. The measured force and moment data show that the control input angles less than $9^{\circ}$ would not significantly reduce the vertical force generation. It is also observed that the pitch, roll, and yaw control moments are produced only by the corresponding control input. The simple PID control theory is used for the controlled flight of the flying robot, controlling pitch, roll, and yaw motions. The flying robot successfully demonstrated controlled flight for about 40 seconds.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.267-281
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• 2012

This paper reviews the flight mechanics and control of birds and bird-size aircraft. It is intended to fill a niche in the current survey literature which focuses primarily on the aerodynamics, flight dynamics and control of insect scale flight. We review the flight mechanics from first principles and summarize some recent results on the stability and control of birds and bird-scale aircraft. Birds spend a considerable portion of their flight in the gliding (i.e., non-flapping) phase. Therefore, we also review the stability and control of gliding flight, and particularly those aspects which are derived from the unique control features of birds.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.759-764
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• 2003

Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the mechanism of hovering flight by single flapping wing, and to examine the effect of the phase difference between the fore- and hindwings in hovering flight by two flapping wings. The numerical method used is based on an immersed boundary method in Cartesian coordinates. The Reynolds number considered is Re=150 based on the maximum translational velocity and chord length of the wing. For single flapping wing, the stroke plane angles are $0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $75^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ and the downstroke angles of attack are varied for each stroke angle. Results show that for each stroke plane angle, there is an optimal angle of attack to maximize the vertical force. Below the stroke angle of $60^{\circ}$, wake capturing reduces the negative vertical force during the upstroke. For two flapping wings, The phase lags of the hindwing are $0^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$ and $270^{\circ}$. The amplitudes of the stroke are 2.5 and 4.0 times the chord length at each phase lag. The results show that maximum vertical force is generated when the phase lag is zero, and the amplitude of the vertical force is minimum at the phase lag of $180^{\circ}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.684-688
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• 1997

The human species has been able to fly for about a century - with the help of aircraft of various kinds. Recently. air vehicles which are like an insect or a bird with flapping wings have been appeared, although many of them are experimental flight vehicle. However, the rubber-powered flapping vehicle is put to practical use such as toy, which flies for some seconds. In this paper, we analyze and evaluate above the rubber-powered flight vehicle using axiomatic design and will present new four flapping wing model.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.238-249
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• 2012

Flight test of flapping micro air vehicles (FMAVs) is carried out using an instrumented measurement system to obtain various engineering parameters and hence to assess the flight performance of the vehicles through the data investigation. An indoor flight test facility equipped with a motion capture system and tracking cameras is used for the work presented in this paper. Maneuvers including straight-level flight, ground flapping, takeoff and landing are tested. Spatial position and orientation data are obtained from the retro-reflective tracking markers attached to the vehicles. Subsequent test analysis is carried out by generating performance parameters from raw data and then assessing the flight performance by comparison of the vehicles. The main findings of this work confirm that the test method and procedures presented here enable the systematic numerical data measurement and assessment of the flying performances of these vehicles, and show the applicability for the test and evaluation of general flapping MAVs.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.130-143
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• 2007

Using steady state aerodynamic theories, it has been claimed that insects and birds cannot fly. To make matters worse, insects and birds fly at low Reynolds numbers. Therefore, a recurring theme in the literature is the importance of understanding unsteady aerodynamic effect and how the vortices behave when they separate from the moving surface that created them. In flapping flight, birds and insects can modify wing beat amplitude, stroke angle, wing planform area, angle of attack, and to a lesser extent flapping frequency to optimize the generation of lift force. Some birds are thought to employ two different gaits(a vortex ring gait and a continuous vortex gait) and unsteady aerodynamic effect(Clap and fling, Delayed stall, Wake capture and Rotational Circulation) in flapping flight. Leading edge vortices may produce an increase in lift. The trailing edge vortex could be an important component in gliding flight. Tip vortices in hovering support the body weight of the hummingbirds. Thus, this study investigated how insects and birds generate lift at low Reynolds numbers. This research is written to further that as yet incomplete understanding.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

This paper investigates the longitudinal flight dynamics and stability of flapping-wing micro air vehicles. Periodic external forces and moments due to the flapping motion characterize the dynamics of this system as NLTP (Non Linear Time Periodic). However, the averaging theorem can be applied to an NLTP system to obtain an NLTI (Non Linear Time Invariant) system which allows us to use a standard eigen value analysis to assess the stability of the system with linearization around a reference point. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics and stability of a hawkmoth-scale flapping-wing air vehicle by establishing an LTI (Linear Time Invariant) system model around a hovering condition. Also, a direct time integration of full nonlinear equations of motion of the flapping-wing micro air vehicle is conducted to see how the longitudinal flight dynamics appear in the time domain beyond the reference point, i.e. hovering condition. In the study, the flapping-wing air vehicle exhibited three distinct dynamic modes of motion in the longitudinal plane of motion: two stable subsidence modes and one unstable oscillatory mode. The unstable oscillatory mode is found to be a combination of a pitching velocity state and a forward/backward velocity state.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.26-30
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• 2016

Experimental study on the unsteady aerodynamics analysis and power consumption of a folding wing is accomplished using a wind tunnel testing. A folding wing model is fabricated and actuated using servo motors. The flapping wing consists of an inboard main wing and an outboard folding wing. The aerodynamic forces and consumed powers of the flapping wing are measured by changing the flapping and folding wings inside a low-speed wind tunnel. In order to calculate the aerodynamic forces, the measured forces are modified using static test data. It was found that the effect of the folding wing on the flapping wing's total lift is small but the effect of the folding wing on the total thrust is larger than the main wing. The folding motion requires the extra use of the servo motor. Thus, the amount of the energy consumption increases when both the wings are actuated together. As the flight speed increases, the power consumption of the folding wing decreases which results in energy saving.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.152-161
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• 2013

This paper presents a control effectiveness analysis of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. A multibody dynamic model of the insect that considers the time-varying inertia of two flapping wings is established, based on measurement data from the real hawkmoth. A six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) multibody flight dynamics simulation environment is used to analyze the effectiveness of the control variables defined in a wing kinematics function. The aerodynamics from complex wing flapping motions is estimated by a blade element approach, including translational and rotational force coefficients derived from relevant experimental studies. Control characteristics of flight dynamics with respect to the changes of three angular degrees of freedom (stroke positional, feathering, and deviation angle) of the wing kinematics are investigated. Results show that the symmetric (asymmetric) wing kinematics change of each wing only affects the longitudinal (lateral) flight forces and moments, which implies that the longitudinal and lateral flight controls are decoupled. However, there are coupling effects within each plane of motion. In the longitudinal plane, pitch and forward/backward motion controls are coupled; in the lateral plane, roll and side-translation motion controls are coupled.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.8-16
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• 2009

An experimental study was carried out to investigate aerodynamic characteristics on reduced frequency of flapping wings. The half span of the wing is 28cm, and the mean chord length of wing is 10cm. In flight, the Reynolds Number range of birds is about $10^4$, and the reduced frequency during a level flight is 0.25. The experimental variables of present study were set to have similar conditions with the bird flight's one. The freestream velocities in a wind tunnel were 2.50, 3.75 and $5.00^m/s$, and the corresponding Reynolds numbers were $1.7{\times}10^4$, $2.5{\times}10^4$ and $3.3{\times}10^4$, respectively. The wing beat frequencies of an experimental model were 2, 3 and 4Hz, and the corresponding reduced frequency was decided between 0.1 and 0.5. Aerodynamic forces of an experimental flapping model were measured by using 2 axis load-cell. Inertial forces measured in a vacuum chamber were removed from measuring forces in the wind tunnel in order to acquire pure aerodynamic forces. Hall sensors and laser trigger were used to make sure the exact position of wings during the flapping motion. Results show that the ratio of downstroke in a wing beat cycle is increased as a wing beat frequency increases. The instantaneous lift coefficient is the maximum value at the end of downstroke of flapping wing model. It is found that a critical reduced frequency with large lift coefficient is existed near k=0.25.