Longitudinal Stabilization of Hovering Flapping Wing Air Vehicles

What is it about?

The hovering flapping-wing MAV inspired from the hawkmoth Manduca sexta is numerically modeled, and its unstable longitudinal flight dynamic characteristics are described. The source of the inherent instability in the longitudinal plane is investigated by interpreting the stability derivatives of the linearized system matrix. The nonnegative value of the stability derivative regarding the pitching moment due to the pitch attitude mainly causes unstable flight modes in the longitudinal plane. A relative rotational motion of the stroke plane with respect to the body turns out to be one of the effective control efforts for the longitudinal stabilization of hovering flapping-wing MAVs; a simple control strategy was found that rotated the stroke plane angle just as much as the body pitch angle is rotated. The control effectiveness of this strategy is verified through a high-fidelity multibody simulation environment.

Featured Image

Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash

Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash

Why is it important?

A simple control strategy to stabilize the unstable longitudinal flight dynamics of a hovering flapping-wing MAV