The paper contributes towards the development of a unified control approach for longitudinal aircraft dynamics with large flight envelopes. Prior to the control design, we analyze the existence and the uniqueness of the equilibrium orientation along a reference velocity. We show that shape symmetries and aerodynamic stall phenomena imply the existence of the equilibrium orientation irrespective...

Locusts are known for their ability to jump large distances to avoid predation. The jump also serves to launch the adult locust into the air in order to initiate flight. Various aspects of this important behavior have been studied extensively, from muscle physiology and biomechanics, to the energy storage systems involved in powering the jump, and more. Less well understood are the mechanisms p...

Honeybees use visual cues to relocate profitable food sources and their hive. What bees see while navigating, depends on the appearance of the cues, the bee's current position, orientation, and movement relative to them. Here we analyze the detailed flight behavior during the localization of a goal surrounded by cylinders that are characterized either by a high contrast in luminance and texture...

The motion of the thorax of the blowfly Calliphora vicina is measured during cruising flight inside a cage of 40×40×40 cm. Sensor coils mounted on the thorax pick up externally generated magnetic fields, and yield measurements of position and orientation of the thorax with a resolution of 1 ms, 0.3°, and 1 mm. Flight velocities inside the cage are up to 1.2 m/s, accelerations are up to 1 g (≈10...

Honeybees turn their thorax and thus their flight motor to change direction or to fly sideways. If the bee's head were fixed to its thorax, such movements would have great impact on vision. Head movements independent of thorax orientation can stabilize gaze and thus play an important and active role in shaping the structure of the visual input the animal receives. Here, we investigate how gaze ...

As a postural behavior, gliding and soaring flight in birds requires less energy than flapping flight. Slow tonic and slow twitch muscle fibers are specialized for sustained contraction with high fatigue resistance and are typically found in muscles associated with posture. Albatrosses are the elite of avian gliders; as such, we wanted to learn how their musculoskeletal system enables them to m...

The motion of the thorax of the blowfly Calliphora vicina was measured during cruising flight inside a cage measuring 40 cmx40 cmx40 cm. Sensor coils mounted on the thorax picked up externally generated magnetic fields and yielded measurements of the position and orientation of the thorax with a resolution of 1 ms, 0.3 degrees and 1 mm. Flight velocities inside the cage were up to 1.2 m s-1, an...

The air transport industry is seeking to manage risks in air travels. Its main objective is to detect abnormal behaviors in various flight conditions. The current methods have some limitations and are based on studying the risks and measuring the effective parameters. These parameters do not remove the dependency of a flight process on the time and human decisions. In this paper, we used an HMM...