Small unmanned air vehicles are limited in sensor weight and power such that detection and avoidance of unknown obstacles during flight is difficult. This paper presents a low power low weight method of detection using a laser range finder. In addition, a rapidly-exploring random tree algorithm to generate waypoint paths around obstacles known a priori is presented, and a dynamic geometric algo...

The Drosophila wing consists of a transparent wing membrane supported by a network of wing veins. Previously, we have shown that the wing membrane cuticle is not flat but is organized into ridges that are the equivalent of one wing epithelial cell in width and multiple cells in length. These cuticle ridges have an anteroposterior orientation in the anterior wing and a proximodistal orientation ...

H altitude or impulse response matrix I identity matrix j dummy index M Mach number R correlation coefficient S matrix of singular values STBL left stabiliser position STBR right stabiliser position t, Δt time, time step T projected state matrix multiplied by the instrument TEFL left trailing-edge flap deflection TEFR right trailing-edge flap deflection u system input vector U matrix of past or...

In this study the centre manifold is applied for reduction and limit cycle calculation of a highly nonlinear structural aeroelastic wing. The limit cycle is arisen from structural nonlinearity due to the large deflection of the wing. Results obtained by different orders of centre manifolds are compared with those obtained by time marching method (fourth-order Runge-Kutta method). These comparis...

With the widespread utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in many fields, it is essential to identify parameters governing their design process. By taking wing as a showcase, this study intends guide through process wing, elaborate on some important definitions, and show how different parts an aircraft affect each other. The current case limited low Reynolds number (200,000: 500,000) f...

Many applications can be solved by using the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology such as farming, surveillance, monitoring, fire disaster, flood monitoring and aerial terrain mapping. This study was carried out to investigate the use of light weight rotary-wing UAV for mapping simulation model. The accuracy of photogrammetric product will be assessed as one of the objectives of this study....

An autonomous catamaran, based on a modified Prindle-19 day-sailing Catamaran, was built to test the viability of GPS-based system identification for precision control. The catamaran was fitted with several sensors and actuators to characterize the dynamics. Using an electric trolling motor, and lead ballast to match all-up weight, several system identification passes were performed to excite s...

This paper presents an investigation into the controllability for an aircraft of seamless aeroelastic wing. The research is aimed at the design of control laws for the aircraft rolling by actively operating a pair of an unconventional hingeless flexible leading and trailing control surfaces at different flight speed. The main challenge is how to achieve a specified rolling rate for the aircraft...

This paper presents some recent improvements in the fabrication and control of the Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI), a centimeter sized aerial vehicle currently being developed at the University of California, Berkeley. We report a lift of 506μN from a single wing, which is sufficient for a 100 mg machine to lift itself off the ground. This lift matches very well with predictions based on qu...