Experimental validation of an aggressive two-dimensional perching maneuver

Abstract

This dissertation experimentally investigates the pitch-up phase and yaw phase of the aggressive perching maneuver with the focus on the velocity reduction to validate the theoretical research work done in this field. The aggressive perching maneuver is performed by birds and offers the ability to bleed off excess velocity in order to decel- erate rapidly and land within short distances and time. Different approaches offer the ability to generate large deceleration forces with the desired benefit that unmanned aerial vehicle can perform rapid precision landings and holding its position, allowing to execute reconnaissance and surveillance mission without being airborne. The en- hancement of capabilities is an everlasting process that inevitably leads to the adoption of nature that brings many challenges with it. This leads to the research and develop- ment in this field, which is the current state-of-art. The impact of high angles-of-attack and sideslip angles towards the generation of large deceleration forces is validated by a simple experiment. A simple lightweight conventional fixed-wing glider with no onboard power unit serves as the test vehicle. An aggressive high angle-of-attack and sideslip maneuver is executed with the focus on the deceleration. Additional, the influ- ence of different degrees of elevator deflections is investigated. The motion through space is recorded by a motion capture system. The collected data is processed and analyzed. The high angle-of-attack maneuver results showed a reducing of the lon- gitudinal velocity component of over 70% within a time frame of one second. The influence of the gravity component towards the deceleration force could not be tested with the simple experimental approach. Additional, the sideslip maneuver success- fully demonstrated the potential towards a large deceleration force. Furthermore, the study of revealed that a higher degree of elevator deflection leads to a faster and larger reduction in velocity. The study successfully demonstrated the significance of the dif- ferent sub phases of the aggressive perching maneuvers. The dissertation is limited to the investigation of the velocity reduction of the pitch-up and yaw-phase.