Modeling and Hover Flight Control of a Micromechanical Flapping-Wing Aircraft Inspired by Wing–Tail Interaction

Abstract

This article intends to give a comprehensive model to a brand new micromechanical flapping-wing aircraft inspired by wing–tail interaction. In this aircraft, the flapping-wing induced flow contributes to the tail control torque generation. However, this also makes the wing–tail interaction nonnegligible, and this flow would be disturbed by the relative flow produced by the body motion. The dominant unsteady aerodynamic effects of the flapping wing are considered. The flapping-wing induced flow over the tail is included when analyzing the tail aerodynamics. Especially, the aerodynamic–dynamic coupling effect of both the wing and the tail is considered to account for the force due to the body motion. A nonlinear and time-periodic simulation model of the aircraft is, thus, established. The model is averaged and linearized around hover status. Because of the combination of the wing–tail interaction with the aerodynamic–dynamic coupling, the state and control matrixes, including both the induced flow effect and the body motion effect, can be obtained. The pitch dynamics are analyzed, and it is found that the tail can push the two unstable oscillatory poles closer to the imaginary axis. The role of the tail is fully demonstrated by considering the induced flow. Cascade controllers are also designed according to the root-locus plot based on the built model. Due to the inclusion of the wing–tail interaction and the aerodynamic–dynamic coupling, the controllers are proved to be efficient in the attitude stabilization during statistic hover, descent, and ascent flights. Our proposed model can be easily applied to the modeling of other flapping-wing aircraft with similar structures, and it makes the controller design process more efficient and targeted.