If you enjoy wildlife programmes then you'll probably have seen
bird's-eye view footage of flying, taken from cameras attached to birds.
A research group from the University of Oxford has gone one step
further: by attaching a compact motion measurement unit in addition to
cameras they hope to glean novel information on what it is that makes
birds aeronautical experts. Their results could help in designing
wing-morphing aircraft that would have deformable wing and tail parts,
in place of conventional trailing-edge flaps. Dr Graham Taylor has been
testing the system in Denmark on a trained Steppe Eagle and will
introduce the technique on Monday 3rd April at the Society for
Experimental Biology's Annual Main Meeting in Canterbury [session A5].
Using this technique allows the researchers to study the flight
mechanisms of free-flying birds, which apart from being more informative
offers an ethical means of bird flight analysis. Several cameras are
mounted on the bird's back or belly and point at the wings, head and
tail. The motion measurement unit weighs less than 50g and provides
complete 3-dimensional information on the orientation, rotation and
acceleration of the Eagle. The research group want to fit their motion
measurements to dynamical models of bird flight to allow them to work
out how the Eagle's control system functions.
Recent trials in Denmark have proved successful. "We can measure tail
spread, pitch angle and bank angle from the onboard video directly",
says Taylor. "The plan is to relate these measurable control inputs to
the body motion of the bird, which we can quantify using the motion
measurement unit."
###
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.