Unmanned air vehicles are becoming increasingly popular alternatives for private applications which include, but are not limited to, fire fighting, search and rescue, atmospheric data collection, and crop surveys, to name a few. Among these vehicles are avian-inspired, flapping-wing designs, which are safe to operate near humans and are required to carry payloads while achieving manoeuverability and agility in low speed flight. Conventional methods and tools fall short of achieving the desired performance metrics and requirements of such craft. Flight dynamics and system identification for modern feedback control provides an in-depth study of the difficulties associated with achieving controlled performance in flapping-wing, avian-inspired flight, and a new model paradigm is derived using analytical and experimental methods, with which a controls designer may then apply familiar tools. This title consists of eight chapters and covers flapping-wing aircraft and flight dynamics, before looking at nonlinear, multibody modelling as well as flight testing and instrumentation. Later chapters examine system identification from flight test data, feedback control and linearization.
Presents experimental flight data for validation and verification of modelled dynamics, thus illustrating the deficiencies and difficulties associated with modelling flapping-wing flightDerives a new flight dynamics model needed to model avian-inspired vehicles, based on nonlinear multibody dynamicsExtracts aerodynamic models of flapping flight from experimental flight data and system identification techniques

What follows is my personal perspective on early events that played a signi?cant role in the formation of the ?eld now known as Smart Structures. It is by no means meant to be all inclusive or de?nitive in any way, but merely an account of personal experiences that ultimately lead to the development of the material contained and presented herein. On March 23, 1983 then President Ronald Reagan announced his intentions to develop a new system to reduce the threat of nuclear attack and end the strategy of mutual deterrence in an address to the nation entitled, Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security. The system he proposed became known as "Star Wars," after the popular movie, because it was meant to provide a protective shield over the nation from space. His speech mobilized the entire nation on a research and development path toward this end. Investigations were conducted into new areas such as space based radar, large aperture antennae and large ?exible mirror concepts. These proposed systems r- resented an entirely new class of structures that proved to provide new challenges in materials, structures, control systems and modeling. For example antennae needed to monitor large areas of real estate in the continental United States required ap- tures on the order of 100 m.

Modern Flexible Multi-Body Dynamics Modeling Methodology for Flapping Wing Vehicles presents research on the implementation of a flexible multi-body dynamic representation of a flapping wing ornithopter that considers aero-elasticity. This effort brings advances in the understanding of flapping wing flight physics and dynamics that ultimately leads to an improvement in the performance of such flight vehicles, thus reaching their high performance potential. In using this model, it is necessary to reduce body accelerations and forces of an ornithopter vehicle, as well as to improve the aerodynamic performance and enhance flight kinematics and forces which are the design optimization objectives. This book is a useful reference for postgraduates in mechanical engineering and related areas, as well as researchers in the field of multibody dynamics.

What follows is my personal perspective on early events that played a signi?cant role in the formation of the ?eld now known as Smart Structures. It is by no means meant to be all inclusive or de?nitive in any way, but merely an account of personal experiences that ultimately lead to the development of the material contained and presented herein. On March 23, 1983 then President Ronald Reagan announced his intentions to develop a new system to reduce the threat of nuclear attack and end the strategy of mutual deterrence in an address to the nation entitled, Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security. The system he proposed became known as "Star Wars," after the popular movie, because it was meant to provide a protective shield over the nation from space. His speech mobilized the entire nation on a research and development path toward this end. Investigations were conducted into new areas such as space based radar, large aperture antennae and large ?exible mirror concepts. These proposed systems r- resented an entirely new class of structures that proved to provide new challenges in materials, structures, control systems and modeling. For example antennae needed to monitor large areas of real estate in the continental United States required ap- tures on the order of 100 m.