Design and experimental study of a new flapping wing rotor micro aerial vehicle

Abstract A three-wing Flapping Wing Rotor Micro Aerial Vehicle (FWR-MAV) which can perform controlled flight is introduced and an experimental study on this vehicle is presented. A mechanically driven flapping rotary mechanism is designed to drive the three flapping wings and generate lift, and control mechanisms are designed to control the pose of the FWR-MAV. A flight control board for attitude control with robust onboard attitude estimation and a control algorithm is also developed to perform stable hovering flight and forward flight. A series of flight tests was conducted, with hovering flight and forward flight tests performed to optimize the control parameters and assess the performance of the FWR-MAV. The hovering flight test shows the ability of the FWR-MAV to counteract the moment generated by rotary motion and maintain the attitude of the FWR-MAV in space; the experiment of forward flight shows that the FWR-MAV can track the desired attitude.