Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Chiba University International Cooperative Research Center (SJTU-CU ICRC), 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33, Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2020 Dec 1;16(1). doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/abbc65.
Active flight control plays a crucial role in stabilizing the body posture of insects to stay aloft under a complex natural environment. Insects can achieve a closed-loop flight control by integrating the external mechanical system and the internal working system through manipulating wing kinematics according to feedback information from multiple sensors. While studies of proportional derivative/proportional integral derivative-based algorithms are the main subject to explore the continuous flight control mechanisms associated with insect flights, it is normally observed that insects achieve an intermittent spike firing in steering muscles to manipulate wings in flight control discontinuously. Here we proposed a novel intermittent control strategy for a 3 degree of freedom (DoF) pitch-control and explored its stabilization robustness in bumblebee hovering. An integrated computational model was established and validated, which comprises an insect-inspired dynamic flight simulator and a novel discrete feedback controller as well as a simplified free-flight dynamic model. We found that the intermittent control model can achieve an angular-dominant flight control, whereas the continuous control model corresponds to an angular-velocity-dominant one. Given the biological constraints in sensorimotor neurobiology and musculoskeletal mechanics, the intermittent control strategy was examined capable of enhancing the stabilization robustness in terms of sensory latency, stroke derivation, spike interval, and damping strength. Our results indicate that the intermittent control strategy is likely a sophisticated flight control mechanism in insect flights while providing a bioinspired flight-control design for insect size flapping-wing micro air vehicles.
主动飞行控制在稳定昆虫在空中的身体姿势方面起着至关重要的作用，因为它们所处的环境复杂。昆虫可以通过根据来自多个传感器的反馈信息来操纵翼运动学，从而将外部机械系统和内部工作系统集成到闭环飞行控制系统中。虽然基于比例微分/比例积分微分算法的研究是探索与昆虫飞行相关的连续飞行控制机制的主要课题，但通常观察到昆虫在转向肌肉中会产生间歇性尖峰放电，从而实现对翅膀的非连续飞行控制。在这里，我们提出了一种新的三自由度（DoF）俯仰控制间歇控制策略，并探索了其在大黄蜂悬停中的稳定性鲁棒性。建立并验证了一个集成的计算模型，该模型包括昆虫启发的动态飞行模拟器和一个新的离散反馈控制器以及一个简化的自由飞行动力学模型。我们发现，间歇控制模型可以实现角主导的飞行控制，而连续控制模型对应于角速度主导的飞行控制。鉴于传感器运动神经生物学和肌肉骨骼力学中的生物学约束，间歇性控制策略能够提高在感官潜伏期、冲程导数、尖峰间隔和阻尼强度方面的稳定性鲁棒性。我们的结果表明，间歇控制策略可能是昆虫飞行中的一种复杂飞行控制机制，同时为昆虫尺寸扑翼微型飞行器提供了一种基于生物启发的飞行控制设计。
