Development of bird-type flapping wing unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Physical and aerodynamic characteristics of the bird in flight offer benefits over typical propeller or rotor drove miniature air vehicle (MAV) locomotion designs in certain applications. A number of research groups and companies have developed flapping-wing aerial vehicles that attempt to harness these benefits. Flapping wing based aerial vehicles offer advantages over the traditional fixed-wing or quadrotor platforms because they are more maneuverable than fixed-wing aircraft and are more energy-efficient than quadrotors while being quieter than both. We have developed a flapping wing based unmanned aerial vehicle to mimic and analyze bird’s flight and this research document provides the details of the development and testing of our platform. The present work is divided into two parts. In the first part, we will discuss the bird's flight, types of flight and characteristics. We will have a review of work done by different academics and research organizations in the field of flapping wing-based UAV. Our proposed UAV platform is explained with respect to mechanism design followed by creative design theory, wing, and tail fabrication and all other basic parameters like control strategy. We will also summarize the design challenges associated with the further advancement of the field and deploying flapping wing vehicles in practice. In the second section, we will discuss the flight mechanics and our personal flight outcomes. Moreover, we will review the problems during testing and provide a possible solution.