Autonomous Guidance and Control of a Biomimetic Single-wing Mav

We discuss the guidance and control of the Samarai MAV—a single-winged, wholly rotating, biomimetic micro air vehicle developed at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories. Samarai is inspired by, and named after, the samara or maple seed Acer diabolicum Blume. It weighs 200 grams and consists of a single wing of radius 30 centimeters with an electric motor/propeller at the tip and torque-rod driven trailing-edge flap as the sole control surface. One end is attached to a hub containing a full suite of avionics for measuring its states in all degrees of freedom. While Samarai exhibits the passive rotational stability inherent in maple seeds, the onboard avionics and flight controls give it the added capability of powered flight to specific locations—under high-level operator guidance or autonomously. We will discuss the innovations in vehicle modeling, state sensing/estimation and control needed to realize these capabilities. We will also present experimental results.