Design, Fabrication, and Performance Test of a Hovering-Based Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle Capable of Sustained and Controlled Flight

Abstract

We present our insect-based hovering Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FW-MAV) capable of sustained flight and control. The proposed design combines two fixed wings and two flapping wings to take advantage of the double clap-and-ling effects at the end of each half-stroke during one flapping cycle for high thrust production, and utilizes the fixed wings as the stabilizing surfaces and lift enhancement mechanism in forward flight. The FW-MAV has a wing span of 22 cm from wing tip-to-wing tip, weighs about 14.6 grams with onboard integration of radio control system including a radio receiver, an electronic speed control (ESC) for brushless motor, two servos for attitude flight controls of pitch and yaw, and a single cell lithium polymer (LiPo) battery (3.7 V). Moreover, passive wing rotation is utilized to simplify the design. Powered by the single cell LiPo battery, the FW-MAV can produce enough vertical thrust of 14.76 grams for lift-off at 10 Hz, and flap at maximum frequency of 12.4 Hz with average vertical thrust of about 24 grams. Experimental results show that the effect of wing clap significantly enhances thrust generation of about 44.82% when compared to the case without clap-and-fling effect, and the thrust-to-power ratio of the FW-MAV is about 3.93. Finally, free flight tests in terms of vertical take-off, hovering, and manual attitude control flight have been conducted to verify the flight performance of the insectinspired FW-MAV. Onboard equipped with a 70 mAh LiPo battery, the FW-MAV can demonstrate a sustained and controlled flight of about three minutes.