MAV stability augmentation using weighted outputs from distributed hair sensor arrays

Insects are known to use a multitude of sensors in flight control and stability; the visuomotor system (compound eye) is the most prominent and has been the subject of extensive study. Trichoid hair sensillae, found extensively on the surface of the head, wings and the thorax of most insects, are used to sense the nature of air flow past the body. Their role and contribution to flight control and stability has not been widely studied. The present work is concerned with the development of a theoretical model that is consistent with previous studies of the sensorimotor architecture and employs the technique of wide-field spatial integration for information processing of hair sensor inputs. These inputs are combined with inputs from the visuomotor system and their impact on planar flight dynamics and stability of a micro helicopter is investigated. The use of hair sensor inputs in conjunction with the optic flow inputs has been found to augment stability and improve performance significantly through a greater degree of decoupling of the vehicle inplane dynamics.