Stabilization control of a bumblebee in hovering and forward flight

Abstract

Our previous study shows that the hovering and forward flight of a bumblebee do not have inherent stability (passive stability). But the bumblebees are observed to fly stably. Stabilization control must have been applied. In this study, we investigate the longitudinal stabilization control of the bumblebee. The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the control derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis and modal decomposition are used for solving the equations of motion. Controllability analysis shows that at all flight speeds considered, although inherently unstable, the flight is controllable. By feedbacking the state variables, i.e. vertical and horizontal velocities, pitching rate and pitch angle (which can be measured by the sensory system of the insect), to produce changes in stroke angle and angle of attack of the wings, the flight can be stabilized, explaining why the bumblebees can fly stably even if they are passively unstable.