The lateral dynamic flight stability of a hovering model insect （dronefly） was studied using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the stability derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigen...The lateral dynamic flight stability of a hovering model insect （dronefly） was studied using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the stability derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis for solving the equations of motion. The main results are as following. （i） Three natural modes of motion were identified： one unstable slow divergence mode （mode 1）, one stable slow oscillatory mode （mode 2）, and one stable fast subsidence mode （mode 3）. Modes 1 and 2 mainly consist of a rotation about the horizontal longitudinal axis （x-axis） and a side translation; mode 3 mainly consists of a rotation about the x-axis and a rotation about the vertical axis. （ii） Approximate analytical expressions of the eigenvalues are derived, which give physical insight into the genesis of the natural modes of motion. （iii） For the unstable divergence mode, td, the time for initial disturbances to double, is about 9 times the wingbeat period （the longitudinal motion of the model insect was shown to be also unstable and td of the longitudinal unstable mode is about 14 times the wingbeat period）. Thus, although the flight is not dynamically stable, the instability does not grow very fast and the insect has enough time to control its wing motion to suppress the disturbances.展开更多
This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transfo...This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transformation （CST） is employed to generate airfoil coordinates. With this approach, airfoil shape is considered in terms of design variables. The optimization process is constructed by integrating several programs developed by author. The design variables include twist, taper ratio, point of taper initiation, blade root chord, and coefficients of the airfoil distribution function. Aerodynamic constraints consist of limits on power available in hover and forward flight. The trim condition must be attainable. This paper considers rotor blade configuration for the hover flight condition only, so that the required power in hover is chosen as the objective function of the optimization problem. Sensitivity analysis of each design variable shows that airfoil shape has an important role in rotor performance. The optimum rotor blade reduces the required hover power by 7.4% and increases the figure of merit by 6.5%, which is a good improvement for rotor blade design.展开更多
Most insects and hummingbirds can generate lift during both upstroke and downstroke with a nearly horizontal flapping stroke plane,and perform precise hovering flight.Further,most birds can utilize tails and muscles i...Most insects and hummingbirds can generate lift during both upstroke and downstroke with a nearly horizontal flapping stroke plane,and perform precise hovering flight.Further,most birds can utilize tails and muscles in wings to actively control the flight performance,while insects control their flight with muscles based on wing root along with wing’s passive deformation.Based on the above flight principles of birds and insects,Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles(FWMAVs)are classified as either bird-inspired or insect-inspired FWMAVs.In this review,the research achievements on mechanisms of insect-inspired,hoverable FWMAVs over the last ten years(2011-2020)are provided.We also provide the definition,function,research status and development prospect of hoverable FWMAVs.Then discuss it from three aspects:bio-inspiration,motor-driving mechanisms and intelligent actuator-driving mechanisms.Following this,research groups involved in insect-inspired,hoverable FWMAV research and their major achievements are summarized and classified in tables.Problems,trends and challenges about the mechanism are compiled and presented.Finally,this paper presents conclusions about research on mechanical structure,and the future is discussed to enable further research interests.展开更多
The longitudinal steady-state control for going from hovering to small speed flight of a model insect is studied, using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniq...The longitudinal steady-state control for going from hovering to small speed flight of a model insect is studied, using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniques based on the linear theories of stability and control for determining the non-zero equilibrium points. Morphological and certain kinematical data of droneflies are used for the model insect. A change in the mean stroke angle （δФ） results in a horizontal forward or backward flight; a change in the stroke amplitude （δФ） or a equal change in the down- and upstroke angles of attack （δα1） results in a vertical climb or decent; a proper combination of δФ and δФ controls （or δФ and δα1 controls） can give a flight of any （small） speed in any desired direction.展开更多
Numerical investigation of vortex dynamics in near wake of a hovering hawkmoth and hovering aerodynamics is conducted to support the development of a biology-inspired dynamic flight simulator for flapping wingbased mi...Numerical investigation of vortex dynamics in near wake of a hovering hawkmoth and hovering aerodynamics is conducted to support the development of a biology-inspired dynamic flight simulator for flapping wingbased micro air vehicles. Realistic wing-body morphologies and kinematics are adopted in the numerical simulations. The computed results show 3D mechanisms of vortical flow structures in hawkmoth-like hovering. A horseshoe-shaped primary vortex is observed to wrap around each wing during the early down- and upstroke; the horseshoe-shaped vortex subsequently grows into a doughnut-shaped vortex ring with an intense jet-flow present in its core, forming a downwash. The doughnut-shaped vortex rings of the wing pair eventu- ally break up into two circular vortex rings as they propagate downstream in the wake. The aerodynamic yawing and rolling torques are canceled out due to the symmetric wing kinematics even though the aerodynamic pitching torque shows significant variation with time. On the other hand, the time- varying the aerodynamics pitching torque could make the body a longitudinal oscillation over one flapping cycle.展开更多
The original free vortex wake model was used for numerical investigation.Calculation of the aerodynamic characteristics in hover and vertical descent modes in the range of vertical descent speed of 0–30 m/s including...The original free vortex wake model was used for numerical investigation.Calculation of the aerodynamic characteristics in hover and vertical descent modes in the range of vertical descent speed of 0–30 m/s including the Vortex Ring State(VRS)area was performed.The calculations were carried out under the condition of variable blade pitch angle values providing a fixed timeaverage thrust value.Visualization data of free vortex wake shapes,flow structures,and velocity fields were obtained and analyzed.The time-dependences of the rotor’s thrust and torque coefficients were obtained and analyzed.The obtained data allows determining the boundaries of the VRS area by various criteria such as rotor thrust and torque pulsations,growth of rotor power consumption relative to the hover,growth of rotor induced velocities relative to the hover,and growth of the required rotor blade pitch angles values.The results of the study are compared with experimental and calculated data of other authors and can significantly supplement the available results of experimental and computational studies in this area.展开更多
The aerodynamics of 2-dimensional flexible wings in bees＇ normal hovering flight is studied. Four insect flapping flight coordinate systems, including a global system, a bodyfixed system, a rigid wing-fixed system an...The aerodynamics of 2-dimensional flexible wings in bees＇ normal hovering flight is studied. Four insect flapping flight coordinate systems, including a global system, a bodyfixed system, a rigid wing-fixed system and a flexible wingfixed system, are established to represent the insects＇ position, gesture, wing movement and wing deformation, respectively. Then the transformations among four coordinate systems are studied. It is found that the elliptic coordinate system can improve the computation accuracy and reduce the calculation complexity in a 2-dimensional rigid wing. The computation model of a 2-dimensional flexible wing is established, and the changes of the force, moment, and power are investigated. According to the computation results, the large lift and drag peaks at the beginning and end of the stroke can be explained by the superposition of the rapid translational acceleration, the fast pitching-up rotation and the Magnus effect; and the small force and drag peaks can be explained by the convex flow effect and the concave flow effect. Compared with the pressure force, pressure moment and translational power, the viscous force, viscous moment and rotational power are small and can be ignored.展开更多
Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, mot...Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, motor and electronic speed controller, the power consumption model of propeller and the constant power discharge model of battery, an efficient method to estimate the hover endurance of battery powered VTOL aircraft was presented. In order to understand the mechanism of performance improvement, the impacts of propulsion system parameters on hover endurance were analyzed by simulations, including the motor power density, the battery capacity, specific energy and Peukert coefficient. Ground experiment platform was established and validation experiments were carried out, the results of which showed a well agreement with the simulations. The estimation method and the analysis results could be used for optimization design and hover performance evaluation of battery powered VTOL aircraft.展开更多
In the present paper, the longitudinal dynamic flight stability properties of two model insects are predicted by an approximate theory and computed by numerical sim- ulation. The theory is based on the averaged model ...In the present paper, the longitudinal dynamic flight stability properties of two model insects are predicted by an approximate theory and computed by numerical sim- ulation. The theory is based on the averaged model （which assumes that the frequency of wingbeat is sufficiently higher than that of the body motion, so that the flapping wings＇ degrees of freedom relative to the body can be dropped and the wings can be replaced by wingbeat-cycle-average forces and moments）; the simulation solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Navier-Stokes equations. Comparison between the theory and the simulation provides a test to the validity of the assumptions in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164 Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The results show that the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth as well as for the dronefly. Since the wingbeat frequency of the hawkmoth is relatively low （the characteristic times of the natural modes of motion of the body divided by wingbeat period are relatively large） compared with many other insects, that the theory based on the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth means that it could be valid for many insects.展开更多
Our previous study shows that the lateral disturbance motion of a model drone fly does not have inherent stability （passive stability）,because of the existence of an unstable divergence mode.But drone flies are obse...Our previous study shows that the lateral disturbance motion of a model drone fly does not have inherent stability （passive stability）,because of the existence of an unstable divergence mode.But drone flies are observed to fly stably.Constantly active control must be applied to stabilize the flight.In this study,we investigate the lateral stabilization control of the model drone fly.The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the lateral control derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis and modal decomposition are used for solving the equations of motion.Controllability analysis shows that although inherently unstable,the lateral disturbance motion is controllable.By feeding back the state variables （i.e.lateral translation velocity,yaw rate,roll rate and roll angle,which can be measured by the sensory system of the insect） to produce anti-symmetrical changes in stroke amplitude and/or in angle of attack between the left and right wings,the motion can be stabilized,explaining why the drone flies can fly stably even if the flight is passively unstable.展开更多
In the present paper, the lateral dynamic flight stability properties of two hovering model insects are predicted by an approximate theory based on the averaged model, and computed by numerical simulation that solves ...In the present paper, the lateral dynamic flight stability properties of two hovering model insects are predicted by an approximate theory based on the averaged model, and computed by numerical simulation that solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Naviertokes equations. Comparison between the theoretical and simulational results provides a test to the validity of the assumptions made in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The following conclusion has been drawn. The theory based on the averaged model works well for the lateral motion of the dronefly. For the hawkmoth, relatively large quantitative differences exist between theory and simulation. This is because the lateral non-dimensional eigenvalues of the hawkmoth are not very small compared with the non-dimensional flapping frequency （the largest lateral non-dimensional eigenvalue is only about 10% smaller than the non-dimensional flapping frequency）. Nevertheless, the theory can still correctly predict variational trends of the dynamic properties of the hawkmoth＇s lateral motion.展开更多
Our previous study shows that the hovering and forward flight of a bumblebee do not have inherent stability （passive stability）. But the bumblebees are observed to fly stably. Stabilization control must have been ap...Our previous study shows that the hovering and forward flight of a bumblebee do not have inherent stability （passive stability）. But the bumblebees are observed to fly stably. Stabilization control must have been applied. In this study, we investigate the longitudinal stabilization control of the bumblebee. The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the control derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis and modal decomposition are used for solving the equations of motion. Controllability analysis shows that at all flight speeds considered, although inherently unstable, the flight is controllable. By feedbacking the state variables, i.e. vertical and horizontal velocities, pitching rate and pitch angle （which can be measured by the sensory system of the insect）, to produce changes in stroke angle and angle of attack of the wings, the flight can be stabilized, explaining why the bumblebees can fly stably even if they are passively unstable.展开更多
In view of the reduction of hovering efficiency near high tension when a helicopter rotor hovers,a numerical simulation method of lifting rotor hovering aerodynamic characteristics based on leading edge droop is estab...In view of the reduction of hovering efficiency near high tension when a helicopter rotor hovers,a numerical simulation method of lifting rotor hovering aerodynamic characteristics based on leading edge droop is established in this paper. It is dominated by Reynolds average N-S equation in integral form. Firstly,VR-12 airfoil is taken as the research object,and the influence of leading edge droop angle on the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional airfoil is studied. Secondly,the modified 7 A rotor is taken as the research object,and the effects of different leading edge droop angles at the position of blade r/R=0.75—1 on the aerodynamic characteristics in hover are explored. It is found that the leading edge droop can significantly improve the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional airfoil and three-dimensional hovering rotor near high angle of attack,and can effectively inhibit the generation of stall vortex.展开更多
Since precise self-position estimation is required for autonomous flight of aerial robots, there has been some studies on self-position estimation of indoor aerial robots. In this study, we tackle the self-position es...Since precise self-position estimation is required for autonomous flight of aerial robots, there has been some studies on self-position estimation of indoor aerial robots. In this study, we tackle the self-position estimation problem by mounting a small downward-facing camera on the chassis of an aerial robot. We obtain robot position by sensing the features on the indoor floor.In this work, we used the vertex points(tile corners) where four tiles on a typical tiled floor connected, as an existing feature of the floor. Furthermore, a small lightweight microcontroller is mounted on the robot to perform image processing for the onboard camera. A lightweight image processing algorithm is developed. So, the real-time image processing could be performed by the microcontroller alone which leads to conduct on-board real time tile corner detection. Furthermore, same microcontroller performs control value calculation for flight commanding. The flight commands are implemented based on the detected tile corner information. The above mentioned all devices are mounted on an actual machine, and the effectiveness of the system was investigated.展开更多
An improved nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode manifold based on scaled state error is proposed in this paper.It can significantly accelerate the convergence rate of the state error which is initially far from the...An improved nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode manifold based on scaled state error is proposed in this paper.It can significantly accelerate the convergence rate of the state error which is initially far from the origin and achieve the fixed-time convergence.In addition,conventional double power term based reaching law is improved to ensure the convergence of sliding state in the presence of disturbances.The proposed approach is applied to the hovering control of an unmanned underwater vehicle.The controller exhibits both fast convergence and strong robustness to model uncertainty and external disturbances.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(10732030)the 111 Project(B07009)
文摘The lateral dynamic flight stability of a hovering model insect （dronefly） was studied using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the stability derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis for solving the equations of motion. The main results are as following. （i） Three natural modes of motion were identified： one unstable slow divergence mode （mode 1）, one stable slow oscillatory mode （mode 2）, and one stable fast subsidence mode （mode 3）. Modes 1 and 2 mainly consist of a rotation about the horizontal longitudinal axis （x-axis） and a side translation; mode 3 mainly consists of a rotation about the x-axis and a rotation about the vertical axis. （ii） Approximate analytical expressions of the eigenvalues are derived, which give physical insight into the genesis of the natural modes of motion. （iii） For the unstable divergence mode, td, the time for initial disturbances to double, is about 9 times the wingbeat period （the longitudinal motion of the model insect was shown to be also unstable and td of the longitudinal unstable mode is about 14 times the wingbeat period）. Thus, although the flight is not dynamically stable, the instability does not grow very fast and the insect has enough time to control its wing motion to suppress the disturbances.
基金co-supported by National Foundation for Science and Technology Development(NAFOSTED) of Vietnam (Project No. 107.04-2012.25)the Agency for Defense Development in the Republic of Korea under contract UD100048JDthe project KARI-University Partnership Program 2009-09-2
文摘This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transformation （CST） is employed to generate airfoil coordinates. With this approach, airfoil shape is considered in terms of design variables. The optimization process is constructed by integrating several programs developed by author. The design variables include twist, taper ratio, point of taper initiation, blade root chord, and coefficients of the airfoil distribution function. Aerodynamic constraints consist of limits on power available in hover and forward flight. The trim condition must be attainable. This paper considers rotor blade configuration for the hover flight condition only, so that the required power in hover is chosen as the objective function of the optimization problem. Sensitivity analysis of each design variable shows that airfoil shape has an important role in rotor performance. The optimum rotor blade reduces the required hover power by 7.4% and increases the figure of merit by 6.5%, which is a good improvement for rotor blade design.
文摘Most insects and hummingbirds can generate lift during both upstroke and downstroke with a nearly horizontal flapping stroke plane,and perform precise hovering flight.Further,most birds can utilize tails and muscles in wings to actively control the flight performance,while insects control their flight with muscles based on wing root along with wing’s passive deformation.Based on the above flight principles of birds and insects,Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles(FWMAVs)are classified as either bird-inspired or insect-inspired FWMAVs.In this review,the research achievements on mechanisms of insect-inspired,hoverable FWMAVs over the last ten years(2011-2020)are provided.We also provide the definition,function,research status and development prospect of hoverable FWMAVs.Then discuss it from three aspects:bio-inspiration,motor-driving mechanisms and intelligent actuator-driving mechanisms.Following this,research groups involved in insect-inspired,hoverable FWMAV research and their major achievements are summarized and classified in tables.Problems,trends and challenges about the mechanism are compiled and presented.Finally,this paper presents conclusions about research on mechanical structure,and the future is discussed to enable further research interests.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10732030)the 111 Project (B07009)Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education(SRFDP, 200800061013)
文摘The longitudinal steady-state control for going from hovering to small speed flight of a model insect is studied, using the method of computational fluid dynamics to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniques based on the linear theories of stability and control for determining the non-zero equilibrium points. Morphological and certain kinematical data of droneflies are used for the model insect. A change in the mean stroke angle （δФ） results in a horizontal forward or backward flight; a change in the stroke amplitude （δФ） or a equal change in the down- and upstroke angles of attack （δα1） results in a vertical climb or decent; a proper combination of δФ and δФ controls （or δФ and δα1 controls） can give a flight of any （small） speed in any desired direction.
基金PRESTO (Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology) program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No 18656056 and No 18100002+1 种基金Japan Society for the promotion of Science (JSPS)a MURI projectunder AFOSR Project No FA9550-07-1-0547
文摘Numerical investigation of vortex dynamics in near wake of a hovering hawkmoth and hovering aerodynamics is conducted to support the development of a biology-inspired dynamic flight simulator for flapping wingbased micro air vehicles. Realistic wing-body morphologies and kinematics are adopted in the numerical simulations. The computed results show 3D mechanisms of vortical flow structures in hawkmoth-like hovering. A horseshoe-shaped primary vortex is observed to wrap around each wing during the early down- and upstroke; the horseshoe-shaped vortex subsequently grows into a doughnut-shaped vortex ring with an intense jet-flow present in its core, forming a downwash. The doughnut-shaped vortex rings of the wing pair eventu- ally break up into two circular vortex rings as they propagate downstream in the wake. The aerodynamic yawing and rolling torques are canceled out due to the symmetric wing kinematics even though the aerodynamic pitching torque shows significant variation with time. On the other hand, the time- varying the aerodynamics pitching torque could make the body a longitudinal oscillation over one flapping cycle.
文摘The original free vortex wake model was used for numerical investigation.Calculation of the aerodynamic characteristics in hover and vertical descent modes in the range of vertical descent speed of 0–30 m/s including the Vortex Ring State(VRS)area was performed.The calculations were carried out under the condition of variable blade pitch angle values providing a fixed timeaverage thrust value.Visualization data of free vortex wake shapes,flow structures,and velocity fields were obtained and analyzed.The time-dependences of the rotor’s thrust and torque coefficients were obtained and analyzed.The obtained data allows determining the boundaries of the VRS area by various criteria such as rotor thrust and torque pulsations,growth of rotor power consumption relative to the hover,growth of rotor induced velocities relative to the hover,and growth of the required rotor blade pitch angles values.The results of the study are compared with experimental and calculated data of other authors and can significantly supplement the available results of experimental and computational studies in this area.
基金The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.3202003905)Scientific Innovation Research of College Graduates in Jiangsu Province(No.CXLX12_0080)
文摘The aerodynamics of 2-dimensional flexible wings in bees＇ normal hovering flight is studied. Four insect flapping flight coordinate systems, including a global system, a bodyfixed system, a rigid wing-fixed system and a flexible wingfixed system, are established to represent the insects＇ position, gesture, wing movement and wing deformation, respectively. Then the transformations among four coordinate systems are studied. It is found that the elliptic coordinate system can improve the computation accuracy and reduce the calculation complexity in a 2-dimensional rigid wing. The computation model of a 2-dimensional flexible wing is established, and the changes of the force, moment, and power are investigated. According to the computation results, the large lift and drag peaks at the beginning and end of the stroke can be explained by the superposition of the rapid translational acceleration, the fast pitching-up rotation and the Magnus effect; and the small force and drag peaks can be explained by the convex flow effect and the concave flow effect. Compared with the pressure force, pressure moment and translational power, the viscous force, viscous moment and rotational power are small and can be ignored.
文摘Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, motor and electronic speed controller, the power consumption model of propeller and the constant power discharge model of battery, an efficient method to estimate the hover endurance of battery powered VTOL aircraft was presented. In order to understand the mechanism of performance improvement, the impacts of propulsion system parameters on hover endurance were analyzed by simulations, including the motor power density, the battery capacity, specific energy and Peukert coefficient. Ground experiment platform was established and validation experiments were carried out, the results of which showed a well agreement with the simulations. The estimation method and the analysis results could be used for optimization design and hover performance evaluation of battery powered VTOL aircraft.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10732030) and the 111 Project (B07009)
文摘In the present paper, the longitudinal dynamic flight stability properties of two model insects are predicted by an approximate theory and computed by numerical sim- ulation. The theory is based on the averaged model （which assumes that the frequency of wingbeat is sufficiently higher than that of the body motion, so that the flapping wings＇ degrees of freedom relative to the body can be dropped and the wings can be replaced by wingbeat-cycle-average forces and moments）; the simulation solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Navier-Stokes equations. Comparison between the theory and the simulation provides a test to the validity of the assumptions in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164 Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The results show that the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth as well as for the dronefly. Since the wingbeat frequency of the hawkmoth is relatively low （the characteristic times of the natural modes of motion of the body divided by wingbeat period are relatively large） compared with many other insects, that the theory based on the averaged model is valid for the hawkmoth means that it could be valid for many insects.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10732030)the 111 Project (B07009)
文摘Our previous study shows that the lateral disturbance motion of a model drone fly does not have inherent stability （passive stability）,because of the existence of an unstable divergence mode.But drone flies are observed to fly stably.Constantly active control must be applied to stabilize the flight.In this study,we investigate the lateral stabilization control of the model drone fly.The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the lateral control derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis and modal decomposition are used for solving the equations of motion.Controllability analysis shows that although inherently unstable,the lateral disturbance motion is controllable.By feeding back the state variables （i.e.lateral translation velocity,yaw rate,roll rate and roll angle,which can be measured by the sensory system of the insect） to produce anti-symmetrical changes in stroke amplitude and/or in angle of attack between the left and right wings,the motion can be stabilized,explaining why the drone flies can fly stably even if the flight is passively unstable.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10732030)the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation (2007B31)
文摘In the present paper, the lateral dynamic flight stability properties of two hovering model insects are predicted by an approximate theory based on the averaged model, and computed by numerical simulation that solves the complete equations of motion coupled with the Naviertokes equations. Comparison between the theoretical and simulational results provides a test to the validity of the assumptions made in the theory. One of the insects is a model dronefly which has relatively high wingbeat frequency （164Hz） and the other is a model hawkmoth which has relatively low wingbeat frequency （26 Hz）. The following conclusion has been drawn. The theory based on the averaged model works well for the lateral motion of the dronefly. For the hawkmoth, relatively large quantitative differences exist between theory and simulation. This is because the lateral non-dimensional eigenvalues of the hawkmoth are not very small compared with the non-dimensional flapping frequency （the largest lateral non-dimensional eigenvalue is only about 10% smaller than the non-dimensional flapping frequency）. Nevertheless, the theory can still correctly predict variational trends of the dynamic properties of the hawkmoth＇s lateral motion.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10732030)
文摘Our previous study shows that the hovering and forward flight of a bumblebee do not have inherent stability （passive stability）. But the bumblebees are observed to fly stably. Stabilization control must have been applied. In this study, we investigate the longitudinal stabilization control of the bumblebee. The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the control derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis and modal decomposition are used for solving the equations of motion. Controllability analysis shows that at all flight speeds considered, although inherently unstable, the flight is controllable. By feedbacking the state variables, i.e. vertical and horizontal velocities, pitching rate and pitch angle （which can be measured by the sensory system of the insect）, to produce changes in stroke angle and angle of attack of the wings, the flight can be stabilized, explaining why the bumblebees can fly stably even if they are passively unstable.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11972190)the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China(No. 20185752)
文摘In view of the reduction of hovering efficiency near high tension when a helicopter rotor hovers,a numerical simulation method of lifting rotor hovering aerodynamic characteristics based on leading edge droop is established in this paper. It is dominated by Reynolds average N-S equation in integral form. Firstly,VR-12 airfoil is taken as the research object,and the influence of leading edge droop angle on the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional airfoil is studied. Secondly,the modified 7 A rotor is taken as the research object,and the effects of different leading edge droop angles at the position of blade r/R=0.75—1 on the aerodynamic characteristics in hover are explored. It is found that the leading edge droop can significantly improve the aerodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional airfoil and three-dimensional hovering rotor near high angle of attack,and can effectively inhibit the generation of stall vortex.
基金supported by Branding Research Fund by Shibaura Institute of Technology(SIT)。
文摘Since precise self-position estimation is required for autonomous flight of aerial robots, there has been some studies on self-position estimation of indoor aerial robots. In this study, we tackle the self-position estimation problem by mounting a small downward-facing camera on the chassis of an aerial robot. We obtain robot position by sensing the features on the indoor floor.In this work, we used the vertex points(tile corners) where four tiles on a typical tiled floor connected, as an existing feature of the floor. Furthermore, a small lightweight microcontroller is mounted on the robot to perform image processing for the onboard camera. A lightweight image processing algorithm is developed. So, the real-time image processing could be performed by the microcontroller alone which leads to conduct on-board real time tile corner detection. Furthermore, same microcontroller performs control value calculation for flight commanding. The flight commands are implemented based on the detected tile corner information. The above mentioned all devices are mounted on an actual machine, and the effectiveness of the system was investigated.
文摘An improved nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode manifold based on scaled state error is proposed in this paper.It can significantly accelerate the convergence rate of the state error which is initially far from the origin and achieve the fixed-time convergence.In addition,conventional double power term based reaching law is improved to ensure the convergence of sliding state in the presence of disturbances.The proposed approach is applied to the hovering control of an unmanned underwater vehicle.The controller exhibits both fast convergence and strong robustness to model uncertainty and external disturbances.
