Towards Neural Control for Fly-by-Feel Morphing
Abstract
The proposed effort aims to further research on smart morphing aircraft and to close the loop on morphing wings to provide basic research results that enable a fly-by-feel unmanned air vehicle (UAV) via neromophic computing. This is motivated by the desire to increase performance in UAVs through inspiration provided by the avian community’s understanding of how birds respond to changes in flow conditions. Of particular interest is the ability of gliding birds to alleviate gust disturbances while maintaining their flight heading and stability. This requires complex interactions between sensing and control capabilities (such as fly-by-feel modes) in order to mitigate gust impact through various wing and tail motions. While biological fliers are naturally outfitted with rapid sensing, processing, and actuation through coupled interactions between the skin, brain, and muscles, the challenge for UAV’s in adapting to aerodynamics lies in the degree of controllability and flexibility of a wing and the ability to sense, compute and respond rapidly. Initial progress on fly-by-feel examined using a neuromorphic computation shows promise for enabling the fast response to changes in flow seen in avian species. Additionally, the flexibility required for adaptive reconfiguration in both biological fliers and UAVs is finely intertwined with the aerodynamic forces and moments acting upon the wings. This flexibility in both the wings and morphing mechanisms are prone to inducing flight instabilities, particularly with respect to balancing and controlling aerodynamic moments. Given the complexity of such flexible multi degree-of-freedom systems, understanding the state of the entire flier through distributed sensing is crucial both in distributed control and aerodynamic adaptation. This motivates the three main topics of investigation in the present work- fluid structure interaction (FSI) of flexible and multi degree-of-freedom morphing wings, bioinspired stability and control of skeletal-linkage mechanisms, and closed loop sensing and aerodynamic fly-by-feel control for gust alleviation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 07, 2023
- Source ID
- FA95502210325
Entities
People
- Daniel J Inman
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Board of Regents of the University of Michigan
- United States Air Force