Controlled hovering flight of an insect-like tailless flapping-wing micro air vehicle

This work introduces the design and controlled hovering-flight test of an insect-like tailless flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FW-MAV). A lightweight flapping mechanism was developed using a combination of four-bar linkage and pulley-string mechanism to achieve a high flapping amplitude of approximately 190°. For attitude control of the FW-MAV without control surface at tail, control moments were generated by adjusting location of the trailing edges at the wing roots for modulation of wing rotation angle in the wings. Measurements by a load cell showed that the control mechanism produces reasonable pitch, roll and yaw moments. Controlled flight with a simple feedback PID controller was enabled by onboard micro gyroscopes sensing the pitch and roll motions of the FW-MAV. Several flight tests demonstrated that the tailless FW-MAV could successfully perform controlled flight for about 40 seconds.