Abstract
Flying insects have evolved sophisticated sensory–motor systems, and here we argue that such systems are used to keep upright against intrinsic flight instabilities. We describe a theory that predicts the instability growth rate in body pitch from flapping-wing aerodynamics and reveals two ways of achieving balanced flight: active control with sufficiently rapid reactions and passive stabilization with high body drag. By glueing magnets to fruit flies and perturbing their flight using magnetic impulses, we show that these insects employ active control that is indeed fast relative to the instability. Moreover, we find that fruit flies with their control sensors disabled can keep upright if high-drag fibres are also attached to their bodies, an observation consistent with our prediction for the passive stability condition. Finally, we extend this framework to unify the control strategies used by hovering animals and also furnish criteria for achieving pitch stability in flapping-wing robots.
Highlights
Flight of both animals and machines requires generating aerodynamic force sufficient to overcome gravity and maintaining balance while aloft [1,2,3]
For fixed-wing aircraft, the need for balance has led to solutions ranging from passenger airliners that are stable by design to fighter jets that require active control of wing surfaces to overcome intrinsic instabilities [4]
We apply techniques from dynamical systems and control theory to form a framework that links the physical stability characteristics of flying insects with the sensory–motor systems needed for control
Summary
Flight of both animals and machines requires generating aerodynamic force sufficient to overcome gravity and maintaining balance while aloft [1,2,3]. For fixed-wing aircraft, the need for balance has led to solutions ranging from passenger airliners that are stable by design to fighter jets that require active control of wing surfaces to overcome intrinsic instabilities [4]. We show how these same principles play out in the case of flapping-wing flight of insects. We apply techniques from dynamical systems and control theory to form a framework that links the physical stability characteristics of flying insects with the sensory–motor systems needed for control. We use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism in establishing this framework and show how the stabilization strategies of other animals and flapping-wing robots can be assessed
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