Stanley Seunghoon Baek

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2011-65

May 17, 2011

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2011/EECS-2011-65.pdf

This thesis presents the design of autonomous flight control algorithms for a flappingwing aerial robot with onboard sensing and computational resources. We use a 13 gram ornithopter with biologically-inspired clap-and-fling mechanism. For autonomous flight control, we have developed 1.0 gram control electronics integrated with a microcontroller, inertial and visual sensors, communication electronics, and motor drivers. We have also developed a simplified aerodynamic model of ornithopter flight to reduce the order of the control system. With the aerodynamic model and the orientation estimation from on-board inertial sensors, we present flight control of an ornithopter capable of flying toward a target using onboard sensing and computational resources only. To this end, we have developed a dead-reckoning algorithm to recover from the temporary loss of the target which can occur with a visual sensor with a narrow field of view. With closed-loop height regulation of the ornithopter, we propose a method for identifying the discrepancy between the tethered flight force measurement and the free flight aerodynamic force. Lastly, we present a nondimensionalized analysis of a motor-driven flapping-wing system and experimentally demonstrate a resonant drive to reduce average battery power consumption for DC motor-driven flapping-wing robots.

Advisors: Ronald S. Fearing

---

BibTeX citation:

@phdthesis{Baek:EECS-2011-65,
    Author= {Baek, Stanley Seunghoon},
    Title= {Autonomous Ornithopter Flight with Sensor-Based Behavior},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2011},
    Month= {May},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2011/EECS-2011-65.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2011-65},
    Abstract= {This thesis presents the design of autonomous flight control algorithms for a flappingwing aerial robot with onboard sensing and computational resources. We use a 13 gram
ornithopter with biologically-inspired clap-and-fling mechanism. For autonomous flight control, we have developed 1.0 gram control electronics integrated with a microcontroller, inertial and visual sensors, communication electronics, and motor drivers. We have also developed a
simplified aerodynamic model of ornithopter flight to reduce the order of the control system. With the aerodynamic model and the orientation estimation from on-board inertial sensors, we present flight control of an ornithopter capable of flying toward a target using onboard sensing and computational resources only. To this end, we have developed a dead-reckoning algorithm to recover from the temporary loss of the target which can occur with a visual sensor with a narrow field of view. With closed-loop height regulation of the ornithopter, we propose a method for identifying the discrepancy between the tethered flight force measurement and the free flight aerodynamic force. Lastly, we present a nondimensionalized analysis of a motor-driven flapping-wing system and experimentally demonstrate a resonant drive to reduce average battery power consumption for DC motor-driven flapping-wing robots.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Baek, Stanley Seunghoon 
%T Autonomous Ornithopter Flight with Sensor-Based Behavior
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2011
%8 May 17
%@ UCB/EECS-2011-65
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2011/EECS-2011-65.html
%F Baek:EECS-2011-65