Control Effectiveness Analysis of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta: a Mul- tibody Dynamics Approach

This paper presents a control effectiveness analysis of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. A multibody dynamic model of the insect that considers the time-varying inertia of two flapping wings is established, based on measurement data from the real hawkmoth. A six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) multibody flight dynamics simulation environment is used to analyze the effectiveness of the control variables defined in a wing kinematics function. The aerodynamics from complex wing flapping motions is estimated by a blade element approach, including translational and rotational force coefficients derived from relevant experimental studies. Control characteristics of flight dynamics with respect to the changes of three angular degrees of freedom (stroke positional, feathering, and deviation angle) of the wing kinematics are investigated. Results show that the symmetric (asymmetric) wing kinematics change of each wing only affects the longitudinal (lateral) flight forces and moments, which implies that the longitudinal and lateral flight controls are decoupled. However, there are coupling effects within each plane of motion. In the longitudinal plane, pitch and forward/backward motion controls are coupled; in the lateral plane, roll and side-translation motion controls are coupled.