Design and analysis of biomimetic joints for morphing of micro air vehicles

Flight capability for micro air vehicles is rapidly maturing throughout the aviation community; however, mission capability has not yet matured at the same pace. Maintaining trim during a descent or in the presence of crosswinds remains challenging for fixed-wing aircraft but yet is routinely performed by birds. This paper presents an overview of designs that incorporate morphing to enhance their flight characteristics. In particular, a series of joints and structures is adopted from seagulls to alter either the dihedral or sweep of the wings and thus alter the flight characteristics. The resulting vehicles are able to trim with significantly increased angles of attack and sideslip compared to traditional fixed-wing vehicles.