Overview of Micro Air Vehicle System Design and Integration Issues

Abstract

Abstract The design of micro air vehicles (MAV) presents one of the most formidable challenges to not only aerospace, but electrical, mechanical, and computer engineers because of flight regime in which these tiny aircraft operate. Aerospace designers must contend with issues surrounding low Reynolds number flight while electrical and mechanical designers will be concerned with issues of energy storage, behavior of materials at small scales, and non‐scaling items. The missions at which MAVs will excel demand increased levels of autonomy, forcing computer engineers to create innate onboard intelligence exhibiting high bandwidth and superior abilities to interpret obstacle‐rich environments not usually encountered by larger flying machines. This chapter provides an overview of the issues associated with micro flight and how some researchers are taking cues from creation to produce insecta‐ and aves‐class robotic life forms for a wide range of useful missions.