Insect Flight and MAVs

Abstract

Insects are highly successful autonomous MAVs. They are specialized for flight at this size range, where conventional wings in steady motion perform badly. Flapping wings can generate 2-3X more lift -- the extra lift capacity is highly desirable for MAVs. Only a flapping design can exploit the high-lift/high-drag aerodynamic mechanisms found in insect flight. After 350 million years of evolution, they have probably found good solutions for: Kinematics - Wing design - Control systems.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 05, 2002
Accession Number
ADA428844

Entities

Organizations

  • University of Bath

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Aircrafts
  • Aspect Ratio
  • Birds
  • Control Systems
  • Delta Wings
  • Flight
  • Flow
  • Flow Visualization
  • High Lift
  • Insects
  • Leading Edges
  • Lepidoptera
  • Propellers
  • Turbulent Mixing
  • United Kingdom
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

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  • Systems Analysis and Design