This paper documents the development and evaluation of an original flexible-wing-based Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) technology that reduces adverse effects of gusty wind conditions and unsteady aerodynamics, exhibits desirable flight stability, and enhances structural durability. The flexible wing concept has been demonstrated on aircraft with wingspans ranging from 18 inches to 5 inches. Salient fe...

Optimization of flapping wing trajectory was explored using an experimental apparatus. A scaled-up hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) wing was fabricated and mounted to a three-degree of freedom flapping mechanism. The vertical force generated during flapping was measured using a load cell and the wing path was optimized to maximize the average vertical force. The mechanism design, control, and instrumen...

The average wing length of Aedes aegypti females collected as pupae was 2.47 mm, which was significantly smaller than the 2.64 mm average wing length of the host-seeking females collected in the field. The average wing length of nulliparous host-seeking females was 2.62 mm, which was significantly smaller than the 2.76 mm wing length of parous host-seeking females. Thus, small Ae. aegypti femal...

To design efficient flapping wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs), a comprehensive sizing method based on theoretical and statistical analyses is proposed and experimentally verified. This method is composed of five steps including defining and analyzing the MAV mission, determining the flying modes, defining the wing shape and aspect ratio of the wing, applying the constraint analysis based on the...

BACKGROUND Unilateral wing vibration to generate "love songs" is a hallmark of male courtship posture in Drosophila melanogaster. In contrast, males of some other Drosophila species extend both wings simultaneously during courtship. Thus, the patterns of wing movement vary among species and are under stringent genetic control, although there are few variations among individuals within a single ...

Using high-speed videography, we investigated how fruit flies compensate for unilateral wing damage, in which loss of area on one wing compromises both weight support and roll torque equilibrium. Our results show that flies control for unilateral damage by rolling their body towards the damaged wing and by adjusting the kinematics of both the intact and damaged wings. To compensate for the redu...

The vestigial (vg) gene of Drosophila plays a central role in the development and patterning of the wing: loss of vestigial results in failures in wing development and ectopic expression of vestigial leads to the development of ectopic wings. The wing-specific regulation of vestigial is mediated through two enhancers: (1) the Boundary Enhancer (vgBE) is early acting and becomes restricted to th...

Birds usually moult their feathers in a particular sequence which may incur aerodynamic, physiological and behavioural implications. Among birds, hummingbirds are unique species in their sustained hovering flight. Because hummingbirds frequently hover-feed, they must maintain sufficiently high flight capacities even when moulting their flight feathers. A hummingbird wing consists of 10 primary ...