Ornithopter optimal trajectory control

Mesoscale ornithopters inhabit a niche in our vehicle technology; they are capable of both hovering and forward flight. The ability to achieve both of these flight regimes is valuable, and this can be done through control of vehicle parameters and by having sufficient actuation authority. The problem of transition between forward flight and hovering flight in an ornithopter is described. An ornithopter dynamic model based on quasi-steady aerodynamics and Newton–Euler rigid body dynamics is developed and shown to accurately describe the problem of interest. A brief exegesis on nonlinear dynamics and flight stability is used to develop stabilizing feedback controllers used to encourage the flight to remain within satisfactory errors of the desired trajectories. Then, feedback control is shown to allow stable transition between forward flight and hover. The optimal control problem to develop transition trajectories is then described and several optimal paths are calculated. These are shown to be amenable to stabilizing feedback control as well. It is concluded that the methods outlined in this paper will prove useful in the design of micro-air-vehicles with unique capabilities.