Planar controlled gliding, tumbling and descent

نویسندگان

  • P. Paoletti
  • L. Mahadevan
چکیده

Controlled gliding during descent has been thought of as a crucial intermediate step toward the evolution of powered flight in a variety of animals. Here we develop and analyse a model for the controlled descent of thin bodies in quiescent fluids. Focusing on motion in two dimensions for simplicity, we formulate the question of steering an elliptical body to a desired landing location with a specific orientation using the framework of optimal control theory with a single control variable. We derive both timeand energy-optimal trajectories using a combination of numerical and analytical approximations. In particular, we find that energy-optimal strategies converge to constant control, while time-optimal strategies converge to bang–coast–bang control that leads to bounding flight, alternating between tumbling and gliding phases. Our study of these optimal strategies thus places natural limits on how they may be implemented in biological and biomimetic systems.

برای دانلود رایگان متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Gliding motility of Mycoplasma sp. nov. strain 163K.

The gliding movements of Mycoplasma sp. nov. strain 163K cells were characterized by photomicrographic and microcinematographic studies. The capability of gliding proved to be a very stable property of strain 163K. Cells were continuously moving, without interruption by resting periods, on glass as well as on plastic surfaces covered with liquid medium. Gliding cells always moved in the directi...

متن کامل

Locomotion in diving elephant seals: physical and physiological constraints.

To better understand how elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) use negative buoyancy to reduce energy metabolism and prolong dive duration, we modelled the energetic cost of transit and deep foraging dives in an elephant seal. A numerical integration technique was used to model the effects of swim speed, descent and ascent angles, and modes of locomotion (i.e. stroking and gliding) on diving...

متن کامل

Arachnid aloft: directed aerial descent in neotropical canopy spiders.

The behaviour of directed aerial descent has been described for numerous taxa of wingless hexapods as they fall from the tropical rainforest canopy, but is not known in other terrestrial arthropods. Here, we describe similar controlled aerial behaviours for large arboreal spiders in the genus Selenops (Selenopidae). We dropped 59 such spiders from either canopy platforms or tree crowns in Panam...

متن کامل

The descent of ant: field-measured performance of gliding ants.

Gliding ants avoid predatory attacks and potentially mortal consequences of dislodgement from rainforest canopy substrates by directing their aerial descent towards nearby tree trunks. The ecologically relevant measure of performance for gliding ants is the ratio of net horizontal to vertical distance traveled over the course of a gliding trajectory, or glide index. To study variation in glide ...

متن کامل

Visual ecology of directed aerial descent in first-instar nymphs of the stick insect Extatosoma tiaratum.

Many wingless insects perform directed aerial descent (DAD) to return to vegetational structures after falling. Given the complex visual environment and spatial structures of tree canopies, those visual signals used as directional cues are not fully understood. Here, we address the role of visual contrast for DAD in newly hatched nymphs of the stick insect Extatosoma tiaratum under controlled l...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2011