Abstract

A micro air vehicle with a bird-mimetic up-down and twisting wing drive system was developed in this study. The Flapping-wing Micro Air Vehicle (FMAV), with a 50 cm wingspan and a double-crank drive system, performed successful flights of up to 23 min. The performance and capabilities of the FMAV were enhanced by adapting a number of unique features, such as a bird-mimetic wing shape with a span-wise camber and an up-down and twisting wing drive mechanism with double-crank linkages. This lift-enhancing design by mimicking the flapping mechanism of a bird's wing enabled the 210 g FMAV to fly autonomously in an outdoor field under wind speeds of less than 5 m·s⁻¹. Autonomous flight was enabled by installing a flight control computer with a micro-electro-mechanical gyroscope and accelerometers, along with a micro video camera and an ultralight wireless communication system inside the fuselage. A comprehensive wind tunnel test shows that the FMAV with a high-camber wing and double-crank mechanism generates more lift and less net thrust than the FMAV with a flat wing and single-crank mechanism, which confirms the improved performance of the developed FMAV, as well as the superior slow flying or hovering capabilities of the FMAV with a high-camber wing and double-crank wing drive system.