Development of a Bio-inspired Tailless FWMAV with High-Frequency Flapping Wings Trajectory Tracking Control

Abstract

The development of a tailless Flapping Wing Micro Aerial Vehicle (FWMAV) inspired by the hummingbird is presented in this work. By implementing mechanical simplifications, it is possible to use planar machining technology for manufacturing of the FWMAV’s body, greatly reducing assembly errors. Traditionally, studies on flapping wing aircraft are limited to open-loop wing kinematics control. In this work, an instantaneous closed-loop wing trajectory tracking control system is introduced to minimize wings’ trajectory tracking errors. The control system is based on Field-Oriented Control (FOC) with a loop shaping compensation technique near the flapping frequency. Through frequency analysis, the loop shaping compensator ensures the satisfactory bandwidth and performance for the closed-loop flapping system. To implement the proposed controller, a compact autopilot board integrated with FOC hardware is designed, weighing only 2.5 g. By utilizing precise wing trajectory tracking control, the hummingbird-inspired FWMAV demonstrates superior ability to resist external disturbances and exhibits reduced attitude tracking errors during hovering flight compared to the open-loop wing motion.