A system for motion control and analysis of high-speed passively twisting flapping wings

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a system for motion control and analysis of high speed passively twisting flapping wings. The developed system is capable of flapping the wing under test with several controlled waveforms at frequencies up to 30 Hz, while capturing data about wing motion, lift force, and angle of attack. Performance was tested with sinusoidal, triangular, trapezoidal and square waveforms, with average position error below 5% for all cases up to and including 25 Hz. Wing control and data capture were found to be of high accuracy, and measurements showed significant differences in wing performance with different flapping motions, indicating a need for continuation of this research.