A bio-inspired flight control strategy for a tail-sitter unmanned aerial vehicle

Wingbeat behavior and intermittent flight path are the two main characteristics of many birds. In this paper, to improve the efficiency of energy use and cruise range, a bio-inspired intermittent flight strategy with a whole flight envelope has applied to a tail-sitter aircraft. A total energy control system based transition control law has been proposed. The energy efficiency is investigated in terms of energy consumption per unit distance of different cruising modes, and the effectiveness and stability of proposed flight mode transition control law are verified by simulation. The mean mechanical power in flap-gliding flight is reduced compared with steady flight.