A Variable Forward-Sweep Wing Design for Enhanced Perching in Micro Aerial Vehicles - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University

A Variable Forward-Sweep Wing Design for Enhanced Perching in Micro Aerial Vehicles

Zac Manchester, Jeffery Lipton, Robert Wood, and Scott Kuindersma
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA SciTech Forum, January, 2017

Abstract

A micro aerial vehicle with a variable forward-sweep wing is proposed with the goal of enhancing performance and controllability during high-angle-of-attack perching maneuvers. Data is presented from a series of wind tunnel experiments to quantify the aerodynamic effects of forward sweep over a range of angles of attack from -25 degrees to +75 degrees. A nonlinear dynamics model is constructed using the wind tunnel data to gain further insight into aircraft flight dynamics and controllability. Simulated perching trajectories optimized with a direct collocation method indicate that the forward-swept wing configuration can achieve qualitatively different lower-cost perching maneuvers than the straight wing configuration.

BibTeX

@conference{Manchester-2017-122121,
author = {Zac Manchester and Jeffery Lipton and Robert Wood and Scott Kuindersma},
title = {A Variable Forward-Sweep Wing Design for Enhanced Perching in Micro Aerial Vehicles},
booktitle = {Proceedings of 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA SciTech Forum},
year = {2017},
month = {January},
}