Flight Mechanics of a Tailless Articulated Wing Aircraft

Abstract

This paper explores the flight mechanics of a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) without a vertical tail. The key to stability and control of such an aircraft lies in the ability to control the twist and dihedral angles of both wings independently. Specifically, asymmetric dihedral can be used to control yaw whereas antisymmetric twist can be used to control roll. It has been demonstrated that wing dihedral angles can regulate sideslip and speed during a turn maneuver. The role of wing dihedral in the aircraft's longitudinal performance has been explored. It has been shown that dihedral angle can be varied symmetrically to achieve limited control over aircraft speed even as the angle of attack and flight path angle are varied. A rapid descent and perching maneuver has been used to illustrate the longitudinal agility of the aircraft. This paper lays part of the foundation for the design and stability analysis of an agile flapping wing aircraft capable of performing rapid maneuvers while gliding in a constrained environment.drag, lift and side force J R,R , J L,R moment of inertia tensor of the right and left wings respectively, in their respective wing root frames J R , J L , J moment of inertia tensor of the right and left wings, and the aircraft body respectively, in the aircraft body frame m w,R , m w,L mass of the right and left wings, respectively m total mass of the aircraft p, q, r body axis roll, pitch and yaw rates r CG

Experimental Demonstration of Perching by an Articulated Wing MAV

“…The actuators for wing dihedral, it may be recalled, are controlled independently on both wings for yaw stability and control. 3 Bourdin, Gatto and Friswell 14 introduced a similar idea for a larger aircraft operating at high Reynolds numbers, whereas this experiment is focused on MAVs operating at a low Reynolds number. Various configurations using the asymmetric dihedral wings are shown in Figure 6.…”

“…2, borrowed from Ref. [3]. The angle of attack, at which the effectiveness ceases to be negative, increases with increasing wing camber.…”

“…Open loop gliding tests were performed on the aircraft used for experiments described in this paper, as well as on a similar aircraft described in Ref. [3]. The tests showed that, depending on the initial condition, the aircraft could simply veer off a straight path gently but rapidly or even enter into a steep spin.…”

“…[3], where the concept of dihedral-based control for MAVs was described and analysed extensively. A few important observations have been recapitulated in this section.…”

“…3 One of the goals of reverse-engineering avian flight is to learn more about the various aspects of avian flight such as stability, maneuverability and control from the dynamics of MAV.…”