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One staple of science fiction is the ornithopter, which is a plane with moving wings. While these haven’t proved very practical in the general sense, a recent paper talks about mimicking natural wings changing shape to improve maneuverability in drones and other aircraft. In particular, the paper talks about how the flight performance of many birds and bats far exceeds that of conventional aircraft.
The technical term for being more maneuverable than a conventional aircraft is, unsurprisingly, called supermaneuverability. Aircraft performing things like the Pugachev Cobra maneuver (watch the video below, or the latest Top Gun movie) require this type of operation, and with modern aircraft, this means using thrust-vector technology along with unstable airframes and sophisticated computer control. That’s not how birds or bats operate, though, and the paper uses modern flight simulation techniques to show that biomimicry and thrust vector technology don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
So how do you apply lessons from birds, bats, and even flying squirrels to drones? The answer appears to be in allowing the wings to dynamically change shape or, as the paper calls it, morph.
One key maneuver covered in the paper is especially interesting to military drones: RaNPAS or rapid-nose-pointing-and-shooting. Presumably, you aren’t worried about that for your next drone project, but being able to maneuver more like a bird would be great.
Not that we haven’t seen actual ornithopters around here. Some of them are practically prehistoric.
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