Robotic Hummingbird Axial Dynamics and Control near Hovering: A Simulation Model

After a short overview of the COLIBRI project, this paper considers cycle-averaged flight dynamics flapping-wing robot near hovering, taking advantage weak coupling between roll and pitch axes. The system is naturally unstable; it needs to be stabilized actively, which requires an attitude reconstruction. Due flapping wings, subject strong periodic noise at frequency its higher harmonics; resulting axial forces moments are characterized from experimental data. propagates six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) consisting three accelerometers gyros. devoted reconstruction in presence representative conditions. Two methods considered: (i) complementary filter based on hovering assumption (ii) full-state dynamic observer (Kalman filter). Unlike filter, allows velocity, allowing us control without any additional sensor. A numerical simulation conducted assess merit two using data obtained with robot. discusses trade-off rejection stability.