Independent articulation motor control for flapping flyers

The concept of a bio-inspired ornithopter capable of flying and hovering in gust conditions has yet to he successfully implemented. Independent wing articulation in the flapping axis would help provide vehicle control in gust flow conditions on the order of the flight vehicle velocities or higher. The method proposed in this work utilizes a sensorless approach where the electrical fluctuations of two brushed motors (one for each side of the wing) are used to determine each motor's rotational velocity and phase angle through real-time statistical analysis. The impedance of each individual coil is slightly different than its adjacent coils. Through the use of correlation algorithms on sampled input current waveform data, the rotor velocity can be determined and controlled and the relative phase angle can be compared.