Twin-wing drone uses new wing flap control for stable hovering
From Model to Prototype: Design and Motor-Flap Propulsion Control of a Twin-Wing Metamorphic UAV
Robotics
Summary
Flying drones usually have one way to stay still in the air or to fly fast forward. This paper describes a drone called MetaMorpher that can both hover like a spinning wing and fly fast like a normal plane. The authors focus on controlling the drone when it hovers and test two ways to do this: pulsing the motor power in time with its spinning and moving small wing flaps instead. Their computer simulations and real tests show that moving wing flaps is a good and lightweight way to keep the drone stable when hovering.
What this means in practice
- •For drone engineers: Design drones that switch between hover and cruise with efficient flap-based control to improve stability and reduce weight during hover flight.
- •For roboticists: Build versatile flying robots that adapt wing movement timing to control posture without relying solely on motor thrust pulses.
Authors
Anja Bosak, Dorian Erić, Ana Milas, Stjepan Bogdan
Abstract
This paper presents the design and control strategy for MetaMorpher, a metamorphic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), capable of both spinning-wing hover and fixed flying-wing cruise flight. Since control of the cruise configuration is comparatively well established in the literature, this paper focuses on control of the MetaMorpher in hover mode, building on the flight dynamics model and conceptual design validated in previous work. The control algorithm is implemented using one of two phase-synchronized strategies: motor propulsion, which pulses motor thrust in synchrony with the vehicle's rotation, or flap propulsion, a novel strategy that pulses the deflection of the wing-mounted elevons. We evaluate both strategies in simulation through different flight experiments. Simulation results confirm the mathematical model and show stable reference tracking, demonstrating flap propulsion as a lightweight, decoupled alternative for hover control. Experimental testing validated the vertical-dynamics propulsion model against the physical prototype, demonstrating very good steady-state agreement across different configurations.