Enhancing Longitudinal Flight Performance of Drones through the Coupling of Wings Morphing and Deflection of Aerodynamic Surfaces

Abstract

In nature, gliding birds frequently execute intricate flight maneuvers such as aerial somersaults, perched landings, and swift descents, enabling them to navigate obstacles or hunt prey. It is evident that birds rely on different wing–tail configurations to accomplish a wide range of aerial maneuvers. For traditional fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), pitch control primarily comes from the tail's elevators, while adjusting flight lift and drag involves deploying wing flaps. Although these designs ensure reliable flight, they compromise the drones’ maneuverability to maintain longitudinal stability. Therefore, the study introduces a biomimetic morphing wing UAV, and presents a pitch control strategy that simultaneously engages morphing wings, ailerons, and tail elevators. The pull-up maneuver tests indicate that the proposed control method results in a pitch rate that is approximately 2.5 times greater than when using only the elevator control. A closed-loop control system for the drone is also established. The closed-loop flight experiment, which tracks a 45° pitch angle, demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed coupled control method in adjusting the flight attitude. In addition, during cruising, the UAV employs three configurations, straight wing, forward-swept wing, and back-swept wing, to cater to different mission objectives and augment its flight capabilities.