Autonomous Bio-Inspired Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV)

Abstract

The usage and development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have increased rapidly in agriculture, health care, and the military. Based on the weight, UAVs are classified as Nano, Micro, Small, Medium, and Large Aerial Vehicles. More precisely, Nano, Micro, and small UAVs are widely used for the defence applications such as Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs), which come under a weight less than or equal to 2kg, are preferable for Surveillance applications. Due to the lightweight and flapping effect, the autonomous flight of MAVs is a significant challenge in robotics. An autonomous MAV includes independent operations like take-off, cruising, and landing. Among all these operations, landing is the most crucial one. Maintaining the constant speed and glide path is a challenging task for a MAV during the landing. Also, it has to predict the exact point of landing within less time. An autonomous Bio-inspired flapping wing MAV is designed and developed for military rescue operations. This MAV consists of two flapping wings with a supporting chassis subjected to sustain hovering, maneuverability, and more efficient forwarding flight. Aerial bird is considered as the inspiration for the designed model. This paper proposed a bio-inspired MAV using a Pixhawk flight controller for autonomous navigation and conducted preliminary experiments on the prototype MAV. The overall expected outcome of the current effort is to generate a simplified independent Bio-Inspired functioning MAV model with an efficient mechanical and electrical system.