Flight Stabilization with Flapping Wings in Gusty Environments

Achieving stable flight with flapping wings, is one of the major challenges for designing micro- aerial- vehicles (MAVs) but is part of the natural behavior of flying insects. To better understand how flying insects flyers can stabilize themselves during hovering flight, we use a computational model, which couples the Navier-Stokes equations for the aerodynamics with a six-degree of freedom (NS-6-DOF) flight dynamics model to recreate the free hovering flight of a hawkmoth. The NS-6DOF model indicates that a hovering hawkmoth is open-loop unstable. Examination of the aerodynamic forces and flight dynamics coupled with observations of the animal in the laboratory suggest a bioinspired strategy for close-loop stabilization of the hovering hawkmoth and this strategy is explored using the NS-6DOF insect model. Simulations are conducted both for quiescent and highly ``gusty'' ambient conditions and the computed response of the ``stabilized'' animal compared to experimental observations.