Wing command

A team at Cranfield University developing tiny aircraft that fly using an insect-like flapping motion is to build a demonstrator with controllable wings.

The team, led by Dr Rafal Zbikowski of the university’s Defence Academy Shrivenham, has attracted the attention of the US military for its work on micro air vehicles (MAVs), which could be used for indoor reconnaissance in urban warfare or counter-terrorism missions.

The research team has previously built non-flying prototype MAVs, but these had wings that were only able to flap in one direction. This fixed motion made them good for hovering, but for the aircraft to manoeuvre each wing must be modified individually, said Zbikowski.

The researchers will be able to control the movement of the demonstrator’s wings while they are flapping, he said. ‘This is useful because manoeuvres are produced by asymmetries in flapping, or when the right wing does something slightly different from the left wing.’