Model structure determination of an ornithopter aerodynamics model from flight data
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abstract
Flapping-wing ornithopters are emerging as a promising vehicle design for developing small scale unmanned air vehicles with multi-mission capabilities. One of the primary technical challenges currently impeding the maturation of flapping-wing vehicle systems is the difficulty in obtaining simple but accurate models of the complex aerodynamic flow fields which characterize flapping flight. Typically aerodynamic models are either assumed using simplified first principles and classical blade element models, or are modeled using time-averaged force balance measurements from a constrained wind tunnel test. In contrast, system identification from flight data can provide accurate aerodynamic models of the true conditions experienced in flight. In this paper the authors present model structure determination results of lift and thrust forces generated by the flapping wings of an ornithopter. A visual tracking system was used to obtain state measurements of the ornithopter while in trimmed straight and level mean flight. A multibody vehicle dynamics model, previous experimental results, and multivariate orthogonal functions were used to determine models for the aerodynamic forces. Copyright 2010 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
