Autonomous Flight Test of Flapping Micro Air Vehicle

1 General Introduction A Flapping Micro Air Vehicle (FMAV) is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the same scale as these flying creatures. Basic open-loop flight control is possible through a radio frequency remote controller with joystick [1]. Closed-loop control is desired to make the FMAV easier to maneuver and control for the average user. Because MAVs are restricted both in size and weight, an embedded system used to control the FMAV must be low-power and light weight. This limits the processing power available for control calculations and generates the need for simple control loops. In this paper, simple classical control method is introduced to control pitch and roll attitude as well as altitude keeping of a FMAV.