Model identification of a flapping wing micro aerial vehicle

Different flapping wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAV) have been developed for academic (Harvard’s RoboBee), military (Israel Aerospace Industries’ Butterfly) and technology demonstration (Aerovironment’s NanoHummingBird) purposes. Among these, theDelFly II is recognized as one of themost successful configurations of FWMAV, with a broad flight envelope, that spans fromhover to fast forward flight, revealing autonomous capabilities in the form of automatic flight and obstacle avoidance. Despite the technological development, very little is known about the dynamic behavior and aerodynamic force generation mechanisms of FWMAVs which, in turn, limits the development of models that could be used for advanced control strategies and flight simulations. The present dissertation contributes to the understanding of the mechanics of flapping flight, using a data-driven systematic approach to the modeling of the DelFly II.