The objective of this research is to verify the three degree of freedom capabilities of a bio-inspired quad flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle in simulation and in hardware. The simulation employs a nonlinear plant model and input-output feedback linearization controller to verify the three degree of freedom capabilities of the vehicle. The hardware is a carbon fiber test bench with four flapping wings and an embedded avionics system which is controlled via a PD linear controller. Verification of the three degree of freedom capabilities of the quad flapping-wing concept is achieved by analyzing the response of both the simulation and test bench to pitch, roll, and yaw attitude commands.

The conventional Mini and Large scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems span anywhere from approximately 12 inches to 12 feet; endowing them with larger propulsion systems, batteries/fuel-tanks, which in turn provide ample power reserves for long-endurance flights, powerful actuators, on-board avionics, wireless telemetry etc. The limitations thus imposed become apparent when shifting to Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) and trying to equip them with equal or near-equal flight endurance, processing, sensing and communication capabilities, as their larger scale cousins. The conventional MAV as outlined by The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a vehicle that can have a maximum dimension of 6 inches and weighs no more than 100 grams. Under these tight constraints, the footprint, weight and power reserves available to on-board avionics and actuators is drastically reduced; the flight time and payload capability of MAVs take a massive plummet in keeping with these stringent size constraints. However, the demand for micro flying robots is increasing rapidly. The applications that have emerged over the years for MAVs include search&rescue operations for trapped victims in natural disaster succumbed urban areas; search&reconnaissance in biological, radiation, natural disaster/hazard succumbed/prone areas; patrolling&securing home/office/building premises/urban areas. VTOL capable rotary and fixed wing flying vehicles do not scale down to micro sized levels, owing to the severe loss in aerodynamic efficiency associated with low Reynolds number physics on conventional airfoils; whereas, present state of the art in flapping wing designs lack in one or more of the minimum qualities required from an MAV: Appreciable flight time, appreciable payload capacity for on-board sensors/telemetry and 6DoF hovering/VTOL performance. This PhD. work is directed towards overcoming these limitations. Firstly, this PhD thesis presents the advent of a novel Quad-Wing MAV configuration (called the QV). The Four-Wing configuration is capable of performing all 6DoF flight maneuvers including VTOL. The thesis presents the design, conception, simulation study and finally hardware design/development of the MAV. Secondly, this PhD thesis proves and demonstrates significant improvement in on-board Energy-Harvesting resulting in increased flight times and payload capacities of the order of even 200%-400% and more. Thirdly, this PhD thesis defines a new actuation principle called, Fixed Frequency, Variable Amplitude (FiFVA). It is demonstrated that by the use of passive elastic members on wing joints, a further significant increase in energy efficiency and consequently reduction in input power requirements is observed. An actuation efficiency increase of over 100% in many cases is possible. The natural evolution of actuation development led to invention of two novel actuation systems to illustrate the FiFVA actuation principle and consequently show energy savings and flapping efficiency improvement. Lastly, but not in the least, the PhD thesis presents supplementary work in the design, development of two novel Micro Architecture and Control (MARC) avionics platforms (autopilots) for the application of demonstrating flight control and communication capability on-board the Four-Wing Flapping prototype. The design of a novel passive feathering mechanism aimed to improve lift/thrust performance of flapping motion is also presented.

La stratégie de l'équipe biorobotique est de s'inspirer de découvertes faites en biologie chez l'insecte ailé dont la vision est adaptée à la navigation autonome dans un environnement 3D inconnu. Cette inspiration donne naissance la réalisation de capteurs visuels minimalistes permettant de rendre autonomes des robots volants, pour des tâches complexes telles que : le décollage et l'atterrissage automatiques, l'évitement d'obstacles et, dans le cas de cette thèse, le vol stationnaire.Cette thèse présente la mise en œuvre des capteurs visuels minimalistes bio-inspirés qui, grâce à des algorithmes de traitement que nous avons réalisés, sont capables de localiser la position d'objets visuels en tirant partie de propriétés souvent bannies en optique : un flou, obtenu par défocalisation, associé à un micro-mouvement rétinien actif. Nous montrons que la précision en localisation ainsi obtenue est considérablement améliorée par rapport à la résolution statique définie par l'échantillonnage spatial : ces capteurs optiques bio-inspirés sont donc dotés d'hyperacuité.Cette thèse présente aussi l'œil composé artificiel miniature CurvACE (de 2,2cm3 pour 1,75g) doté d'une vision panoramique (180x60°). Cette thèse décrit la caractérisation et la mise en œuvre du capteur CurvACE sur le robot HyperRob. En fusionnant les mesures de position données par une quarantaine de pixels couvrant un grand champ visuel, l'œil CurvACE mesure sa position par rapport à un environnement visuel texturé complexe. Nous montrons aussi que le robot volant HyperRob, attaché au bout d'un bras, stabilise son roulis et sa position, dans le plan azimutal, grâce à son œil composé artificiel doté d'hyperacuité. / The biorobotics team from the Institute of Movement Sciences (Marseille, France) takes its inspiration from biological studies on flying insects which are able to navigate into unknown 3D environments with a high maneuverability. These studies led us to build minimalist optical sensors to make aerial robots autonomous for achieving complex tasks such as automatic landing and take-off, obstacle avoidance and very accurate hovering flight depicted in this doctoral thesis. This work presents several bio-inspired visual sensors implemented with different visual processing algorithms. All these sensors are able to locate visual objects (contrasting edges and bars) with unusual properties for optical sensing devices: a blur obtained by defocusing optics related with active retinal micro-movements to improve the sensor resolution. We showed that the resolution in locating contrasting objects can be improved up to 160 fold better than the static resolution defined by the pixel pitch, which means that these bio-inspired optical sensors are endowed with hyperacuity.The thesis presents a miniature artificial compound eye CurvACE (of 1.75g for 2.2cm3) with a panoramic field of view (180x60°). This thesis describes thoroughly the characterization and the implementation of the CurvACE sensor onboard an aerial robot named HyperRob. This artificial compound eye acts as a position sensing device able to measure its position relative to a complex textured scene by fusing the position measurements obtained by 40 pixels. The tethered flying robot HyperRob (a 150-g bi-rotor with a 23-cm wingspan) stabilizes its roll and its position thanks to its hyperacute artificial compound eye.

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Spectrally-based fiber optic sensors are a rapidly maturing technology capable of sensing several environmental parameters in environments that are unfitting to electrical sensors. However, the sensor interrogation systems for this type of sensors are not yet fit to replace conventional sensor systems. They lack the speed, compact size, and usability necessary to move into mainstream test and measurement. The Fiber Sensor Integrated Monitor (FSIM) technology leverages rapid optical components and parallel hardware architecture to move these sensors across the research threshold into greater mainstream use. By dramatically increasing speed, shrinking size, and targeting an interface that can be used in large-scale industrial interrogation systems, spectrally-based fiber optic sensors can now find more widespread use in both research labs and industrial applications. The technology developed in this thesis was demonstrated by producing two advanced interrogators: one that was one half the size of commercially available systems, and one that accelerated live spectral capture by one thousand times – both of which were operated by non-developers with little training.