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Bird flight research centre aims to inform design of aircraft

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The flight of birds could inform the design of uncrewed aerial systems following the establishment of a new centre at the University of California, Davis.

Christina Harvey, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace enginering at UC Davis, with a Swainson's Hawk at the California Raptor Center. Harvey is establishing a new lab at the centre which will study bird flight with a goal of improving design of uncrewed aerial systems
Christina Harvey, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace enginering at UC Davis, with a Swainson's Hawk at the California Raptor Center. Harvey is establishing a new lab at the centre which will study bird flight with a goal of improving design of uncrewed aerial systems - UC Davis photo

Christina Harvey, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis, and Michelle Hawkins, a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and director of the California Raptor Center, are launching the bird flight research centre with a grant from the US Department of Defense.

The new centre will utilise motion capture and photogrammetry technologies to image birds in flight and create 3D models of wing shapes.

Harvey and Hawkins anticipate that by gleaning information about how different types of birds manoeuvre around complex environments, they can inform the development of next-generation drones and other uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to deliver packages, detect and fight wildfires, and more.

“Remember when Jeff Bezos was out there telling everybody that drones were going to put your Amazon package on your front step? Well, that manoeuvrability is still not available,” Hawkins said in a statement.

Motion capture technology uses multiple infrared cameras to track reflective markers on the moving subject. To track the bird’s movements, markers can be placed on the bird’s wings, body and tail, as well as on obstacles to assess how a bird manoeuvres around each obstacle.

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Due to the sparse placement of the markers, motion capture technology cannot be used to create detailed 3D models, which are necessary for experiments in computational fluid dynamics.

Photogrammetry uses specialised algorithms to combine multiple calibrated 2D camera images to create a 3D model, but the heavy data processing load requires such high-resolution imagery that the technology has only been used to model birds in steady glides.  

Harvey and her team will use motion capture to trigger the photogrammetry system to take a short burst of images when the bird enters and performs a manoeuvre in the cameras’ fields of view.

This will enable Harvey to create 3D models of complex wing shapes and investigate fundamental research questions, such as how birds control their dynamic systems in flight and what attributes are necessary to achieve specific manoeuvres.

“We don’t have an aircraft that can switch between a surveillance drone like a glider and an aircraft that can weave between trees like multi-rotors,” said Harvey. “Information we glean from this research may move us closer in that direction. This research has the potential to really impact the world.”

The facility is currently in the planning stages, with the goal to break ground at the raptor centre this autumn. It will comprise a covered, prefabricated barn that will serve as an indoor hall in which the birds can fly and manoeuvre. Infrared and high-speed, high-resolution cameras will be installed along the hall, which will also house holding cages to acclimate the birds to the flight area.

Bird flight