Employing Wing Morphing to Cooperate Aileron Deflection Improves the Rolling Agility of Drones

• Published in: Advanced intelligent systems Vol. 5; no. 11
• Main Authors: Liu, Yubin, Zhang, Junming, Gao, Liang, Zhu, Yanhe, Liu, Benshan, Zang, Xizhe, Cai, Hegao, Zhao, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-11-2023; Wiley
• Subjects: aerial robotics; Aerodynamic characteristics; Ailerons; Aircraft; Birds; Centroids; Collaboration; Cooperation; Deflection; Deformation; Design; Drone aircraft; Drones; Dynamic models; flight control; Flight control systems; Inertia; Lateral control; modeling and simulations; Morphing; morphing wings; nature-inspired unmanned aerial vehicles; Nonlinear dynamics; Roll; Sweepback; Unmanned aerial vehicles
• ISSN: 2640-4567; 2640-4567
• DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202300420

In the wild, gliding birds dodge obstacles or predators by folding and twisting their wings swiftly to perform a rapid roll. Accordingly, the authors strive to explore the feasibility of improving the roll rate of drones through this bird‐inspired morphing method, by using the asymmetric sweepback of wings to simulate the contraction of birds’ wings and the deflection of the aileron to imitate wing torsion. Moreover, the effects of wing morphing on the centroid, inertia matrix, and aerodynamic characteristics of the drone are explored herein, and a nonlinear dynamic model is established. Furthermore, a novel cooperative strategy that combines wing morphing with aileron deflection for roll control is introduced, and a flight controller based on this cooperative strategy is developed. Finally, the superiority of the cooperative strategy and the accuracy of the dynamic modeling have been validated in the outdoor flights of the morphing wing drone.
Herein, an innovative collaborative strategy of wing deformation and aileron deflection is proposed. Flight tests prove that the cooperative control can make the drone roll almost 2 times faster than aileron control at 4° angle of attack. A closed‐loop control system is established based on this collaborative strategy, which enables the improvement of roll control margin.