Abstract
Morphing wings represent significant potential for enhancement of operational flexibility of UAVs with respect to varying flow conditions; however, the majority of existing solutions are based on relatively sophisticated systems and require special instrumentation and/or computation-intensive control algorithms. This research describes an Internet-of-Things-based morphing wing prototype conducting low-cost experiments related to adaptive behavior of morphing systems based on air-flow-dependent geometrical adjustments. The prototype includes two sensing channels of air flow, an Arduino UNO microcontroller, a decision-making mechanism based on threshold criteria implemented by the microcontroller, mechanical actuation controlled by a servo, visual feedback via an LCD display, a manual controlling mode, as well as wireless monitoring. Experiments were carried out at air flow velocities of 1.0 to 5.0 m/s, during which variations of the sensing output, servo command, response time and repeatability were investigated. It was found that both sensing channels produced an increasing output in the investigated range of velocities, while servo commands varied from 15° to 75°. Response times were within 318-420 ms and 96% of 50-trial experiment were successful.References
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