Abstract
Avian Inspired Morphing
Nature through careful observation and testing of gliding avian species have resulted in new thoughts on how to design morphing uninhabited air vehicles (UAV) and what morphing motions might make for improved performance. An understanding of avian flight stability suggests a new approach to morphing aircraft design. Of interest is how to create these motions using smart materials to gain avian abilities. Coupled with new learning algorithms, methods for designing smart autonomous morphing airfoils for use in small UAVs are presented. Hardware based reinforcement learning (RL) techniques are used to teach a smart morphing wing to respond to gusts, following the inspiration of gliding gulls who respond immediately and autonomously to unknown changes in flow to maintain stability and control in unpredictable environments. We strive to translate this knowledge to flight control of UAVs. Last, some way forward suggestions are given: 1) to create new class of structures: autonomous multifunctional structures and 2) what morphing might mean to Urban Air Mobility. An outline of what is needed in terms of future research is also presented.
Bio:
Daniel J. Inman received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Mechanical Engineering in 1980 and is the Harm Buning Collegiate Professor and former Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. Since 1980, he has published eight books (on vibration, energy harvesting, control, statics, and dynamics), eight software manuals, 20 book chapters, over 410 journal papers and 674 proceedings papers, given 78 keynote or plenary lectures, graduated 71 Ph.D. students, and supervised more than 75 MS degrees. He works in the areas of applying smart materials and structures to solve aerospace engineering problems including energy harvesting, structural health monitoring, vibration suppression and morphing aircraft. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, International Instituted for Acoustics and Vibrations, Society of Experimental Mechanics and American Academy of Mechanics. He won the ASME Adaptive Structures Award in April 2000, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award in March of 2003, he received the ASME Den Hartog Award for lifetime achievement in teaching and research in vibration, the 2009 Lifetime Achievement award in Structural Health Monitoring, and the AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Award, in 2014. He is currently Technical Editor of the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (1999-present).