CHAPTER NO 01

INTRODUCTION
For thousands of years, humans have watched with wonder and envy as birds fly. People first
tried to fly like birds by imitating the flapping of wings. In the late 1400s, Leonardo da Vinci
created a wing flapping contraption called an ornithopter (from the Greek word ornithosfor bird
and pteron for wing). He thought flying was simply a matter of flapping wings up and down.
The ornithopter didn’t work because he did not understand how bird wings must generate lift and
thrust to fly. Today, airplanes with powerful engines can fly long distances. But human-made
machines will probably never match the natural power and grace of birds on the wing. Birds
have feathers and bones adapted for flight. With these adaptations, they can take off, hover, soar,
glide, dive, and land in amazing ways.

In this project we are going to design a Mechanical Bird –completely imitating the natural
bird which we named a SPY BIRD. Its SPY because we are fixing a miniature spying mechanism
(i.e. camera and transmitter or recorder) in the fuselage of bird so that it can be used for spying
purpose as it can be used to deceive enemy easily because of its natural bird like look compare to
other SPYING Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV’s) The flight will be achieved via flapping of
wings which will provide the required thrust and lift and tail will be used to control the direction,
yawing and pitching of bird during flight.

The bird is electrical powered (i.e. battery storage) ,which will run the motor coupled with
gearbox. A crank mechanism is provided which will convert the continuous rotation into
reciprocating motion. Special ball joints are provided in crank mechanism in order to provide the
twisting motion for the production of thrust.

Bird wing span is 0.94m and wing area is 0.35m 2 .the total weight is 300 gram and can lift
pay loadabout 100 gram. It flies with 3-4 m/s velocity. the camera range is subjected to camera
quality ,and due to limited budget we installed a camera of 500 meter range in order to two
spying action. It will be controlled via radio signals (RC CONTROLLED), for which a six
channel receiver is installed in bird body. RC control range is 1000 meter.
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 CHAPTER NO 02

LETRATUR EREVIEW

2.1 Introduction: Flight in Nature

The fundamentals of bird flight are similar to those of aircrafts. As the

wings move through the air, they are held at a slight angle, which deflects
the air gently downward. This causes air pressure to build up beneath the
wings, while the pressure above the wings is reduced. The difference in
pressure produces lift, a force that acts roughly perpendicular to the wing
surface and keeps the bird or airplane from falling. Generally, bird flight can
be divided into two modes of functioning,i.e., unpowered flight (gliding and
soaring flight) and powered flight (flapping and hovering flight).When a bird
is gliding, the wings are held out to the side of the body and do not flap. Lift
force is produced by the action of air flow on the wings. The lift force occurs
because the air has a lower pressure just above the wings and higher
pressure below. But there is also air resistance or drag on the body and
wings of the bird. This force would eventually cause the bird to slowdown, up
to the point where it would not have enough speed to fly. To make up for this,
the bird can lean forward a little and go into a shallow dive. In that way, the
lift force produced by the wings is angled forward slightly helping the bird to
speed up. Really what the bird is doing here is giving up some height in
exchange for increased speed (or putting it in another way, it is converting
its gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy).

An alternative method to gliding used by many biological flyers to

produce lift and thrust, is flapping wing flight. Flapping flight is a far more
complicated process than gliding. During flapping flight, the bird’s wings
systematically change shape. Flapping involves up and down movement of
the wings. During the down stroke (or power stroke), the wings move
downward and forward. During the upstroke (or recovery stroke), the wings

4
move upward and drawn in toward the body to reduce drag. During flapping
flight, the wings also change their angle of attack depending on the stroke.
Flapping flight is basically rowing in the air with the added complication that
lift needs to be generated as well.

How is it different from an airplane or helicopter?

Unlike airplanes and helicopters, the driving airfoils of the ornithopter

have a flapping or oscillating motion, instead of rotary. As with
helicopters, the wings usually have a combined function of providing both lift
and thrust. Theoretically, the flapping wing can be set to zero angle of attack
on the upstroke, so it passes easily through the air. Since typically the
flapping airfoils produce both lift and thrust, drag-inducing structures
are minimized. These two advantages potentially allow a high degree of
efficiency. In propeller- or jet-driven aircraft, the propeller creates a
relatively narrow stream of relatively fast moving air. The energy carried
by the air is lost. The same amount of force can be produced by
accelerating a larger mass of air to a smaller velocity, for example by using a
larger propeller or adding a bypass fan to a jet engine. Use of flapping wings
offers even larger displaced air mass, moved at lower velocity, thus
improving efficiency. In order to create an effective flight, it had to be able to
flap its wings to generate enough power to get off the ground and travel
through the air. Flapping wings increase drag and are not as efficient as
propeller-powered aircraft. To increase efficiency of the flapping
machines, more power is required on the down stroke than on the
upstroke. If the wing on the BIRD was not flexible and flapped at the
same angle while moving up and down, it would act like a huge board

5
moving in two dimensions, not producing lift or thrust. The flexibility and
move-ability of the wing let it twist and bend to the reactions of the
BIRD while in flight.

2.1.1 Unpowered Flight Gliding and Soaring

Flying animals usually flap their wings to generate both lift and thrust. But
if they stop flapping and keep their wings stretched out, their wings actively
produce only lift, nor thrust. Thrust can be produced by gravity force while
the animal is descending. When this happens, we call them gliders. Many
gliding birds (and soaring birds as well) appear to hang in the air effortlessly.
These are birds like vultures, albatrosses, pelican sand storks with a high lift-
to-drag ratio. Essentially, this means that their wings generate a lot of lift
without producing much drag. Large birds have evolved to be gliders partly
because gliding becomes easier the larger your wings are and obviously
small birds cannot have large wings. In addition to birds, gliders can also be
found among bats, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals

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 Figure 2.1 a bird while gliding. Notice the separation between the wingtip
feathers these natural slots, help to reduce
the induced drag while gliding.

To maintain level flight, a flying animal must produce both lift and thrust
to balance the gravity force in the vertical direction and drag in the
horizontal direction respectively. Because gliding occurs with no active thrust
production, an animal always resorts to the gravity force to overcome the
drag. In gliding, the animal tilts its direction of motion slightly downward
relative to the air that it moves through. When the animal tilts downward, the
resulting angle between the motion direction and the air becomes the gliding
angle. The gliding angle directly controls the lift-to-drag ratio.

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 The higher this ratio, the shallower the glide becomes. The lift-to-drag
ratio increases with the Reynolds number, a parameter proportional to
animal size and flight speed. Large flying animals fly at high Reynolds
numbers and have a large lift-to-drag ratio. For example, a wandering
albatross, with a wing span of over 3 meters, has a reported lift-to-drag ratio
of 19, whereas the fruit fly, which has a span of 6 millimeters, has a lift-to-
drag ratio of 1.8If the animal has a low lift-to-drag ratio, it must glide (if it
can) with a consider ablylarge glide angle. For example, the North American
flying squirrel has a glide angle of about 18to 26 degrees with a lift-to-drag
ratio of 2 to 3.

Figure 2.2 In gliding flight, a bird’s wing deflect air downward, causing a

lift force that holds the bird up in the air (see figure A). By tilting forward and
going into a slight dive (figure B), the bird can maintain forward speed.

Gliding flight always results in a bird moving downward through the air. In
order to maintain or gain height, birds resort to soaring (see figure 2.3).
Soaring flight is a special kind of glide, in which the bird flies into a rising air
current. Because the air is rising, the birds can maintain its height relative to

8
the ground without the need of flapping its wings. Instead of using gravity,
soaring uses energy in the atmosphere, such as rising air current.

Figure 2.3 in soaring flight

2.1.2 Powered Flight: Flapping

Flapping flight is more complicated than flight with fixed wings because of
the structural movement and the resulting unsteady fluid dynamics.
Conventional airplanes with fixed wings are, in comparison, very simple. The
forward motion relative to the air causes the wings to produce lift. However,
in flapping flight the wings not only move forward relative to the air, they

9
also flap up and down, bend, twist and sweep.

Figure 2.4 A Mallard in powered flight (flapping flight).

When a bird flaps, as opposed to gliding, its wings continue to develop lift
as before, but they also create an additional forward and upward force,
thrust, to counteract its weight and drag. Flapping involves two stages: the
down stroke or power stroke, which provides the majority of the thrust, and
the upstroke or recovery stroke, which can also (depending on the bird’s
wings) provide some upward force. At each upstroke the wing is slightly
folded inwards to reduce upward resistance. Birds change the angle of attack
between the upstroke and the down stroke of their wings. During the down
stroke the angle of attack is increased, and is decreased during the upstroke.
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 When the wings move up and down, they are also moving forward
through the air along with the rest of the bird. Close to the body, there is
very little up and down movement. Farther out toward the wingtips, there is
much more vertical motion. As the bird is flapping along, it needs to make
sure it has the correct angle of attack all along its wingspan. Since the outer
part of the wing moves up and down more steeply than the inner part, the
wing has to twist (and bird’ swings are very flexible), so that each part of the
wing can maintain just the right angle of attack.

As the wing twists, and as the outer part of the wing moves downward,
the lift force in the outer part of the wing is angled forward. This is what
would happen if the whole bird went into a steep dive. However, only the
wing is moving downward, not the whole bird. Therefore the bird can
generate a large amount of forward propulsive force without any loss of
altitude. During this stroke, the air is not only deflected downward, but also
to the rear. The air is forced backward just as it would be by a propeller.

Figure 2.5 In A, the wings twist as shown to maintain the correct angle of
attack for the down stroke. In B, the bird’s wings produce lift and thrust
during the down stroke.

During the upstroke, the outer part of the wing points straight along its
line of travel so it can pass through the air with the least possible resistance.

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In other words, the angle of attack is reduced to zero. The bird partially folds
its wings, which reduces the wingspan and eliminates the dreggy outer part
of the wing (this is not strictly necessary though, and most insects lack this
capability). Also, the primaries (wingtip feathers) separate, these natural
slots, allow passage of air through them, reducing in this way the skin
friction.

The inner part of the wing is different. There is little up-and-down

movement there, so that part of the wing continues to provide lift and
functions more or less as it would when gliding. Because only the inner part
of the wing produces lift in the upstroke, the upstroke as a whole offers less
lift than the down stroke. As a result, the bird’s body will bob up and down
slightly during flight.

Figure 2.6 In A, the inner part of the wing produces lift, even during the
upstroke. In B, the outer part of the wing is angled to pass through the air
with little resistance.

What we have outlined so far is a basic description of how birds fly, when
they are already in the air and cruising along. Birds also have other flying
techniques, which they use when taking offer landing, or for other special
maneuvers like hovering, as we will see later.

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 Birds, bats and insects apply a variety of different flapping patterns in
hovering and forward flight to generate lift and thrust. Larger birds have
relatively simple wingtip paths. For example, an oval tip path is often
associated with albatrosses. Smaller flyers exhibit more complicated flapping
patterns. Figure 2.7 illustrates some of these patterns for two natural flyers.
In figure 2.9, hummingbird’s wing lying eight patterns is shown.

Figure 2.7 Wingtip paths relative to the body for two natural flyers. (A)
Pigeon, here we see the path transition from tip-reversal upstrokes during
slow flight to feathered upstrokes at intermediate speeds and a swept-wing
upstroke during fast flight. (B) Black-billed magpie wingtip path at all flight
speeds

2.1.3 Hovering

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 Hovering is used by several species of birds. Hovering, which is
generating only lift through flapping alone rather than as a product of thrust,
demands a lot of energy. Whether a flying animal can hover or not depends
on its size, moment of inertia of the wings, degrees of freedom in the
movement of the wings and the wings shape. As a result of these limitations,
hovering Is mainly performed by small birds and insects. The largest bird
able to truly hover is the pied kingfisher, although larger birds can hover but
for short periods of time.

Large birds can also hover and they do so in an artificial way by flying into a
headwind, allowing them to utilize thrust to fly slowly but remain stationary
to the ground (or water), this is known as wind-hovering. Kestrels, terns and
even hawks use this wind-hovering.

Most birds that hover have high aspect ratio wings that are suited to low
speed flying. One major exception to this is the hummingbirds, which are
among the most accomplished hoverers among all birds. Hummingbird flight
is different from other bird’s flight in that the wings are fully extended
throughout the whole stroke, the stroke being a lying figure eight. Some
humming birds can beat their wings 52 times a second, though others do so
less frequently. There are two kinds of hovering, symmetric hovering and
asymmetric hovering (figure 2.8), as described by Norberg and Shyy. For
large birds, which cannot rotate their wings between the forward and
backward stroke, the wings are extended to provide more lift during down
stroke, whereas during the upstroke the wings are flexed backward to reduce
drag. In general the flex is more pronounced in the slow forward flight than in
fast forward flight. This type of asymmetric hovering is usually called “avian

14
stroke”

Figure 2.8 Hovering flight: a) asymmetric hovering or “avian stroke” and b)

symmetric hovering or “insect stroke”

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 Symmetric hovering, also called normal or true hovering, or “insect
stroke”, is performed by hummingbirds or insects that hover with fully
extended wings during the entire wing-beat cycle. Lift is
produced during the entire wing stroke, except at the reversal points. The
wings are rotated and twisted during the backstroke so that the leading edge
of the wing remains the same throughout the cycle, but the upper surface of
the wing during the forward stroke becomes the lower surface during the
backward stroke. The wing movements during down stroke and up stroke can
be seen in figure 2.9. Note that, during hovering, the body axis is inclined at
a desirable angle and the wings describe a figure of a lying eight in the
vertical plane.

2.1.4 Take-off and landing

Take-off can be one of the most energetically demanding aspects of

flight, as the bird needs to generate enough airflow under the wing to create
lift. In small birds a jump up will suffice, while for larger birds this is not
possible. In this situation, birds need to take a run up in order to generate
the airflow to take off. Large birds often simplify take off by facing into the
wind, and if they can, perching on a branch or cliff so that all they need to do
is drop off into the air. Landing is also a problem for many large birds with
high airspeeds. This problem is dealt with in some species by aiming for a
point below the intended landing area (such as a nest on a cliff)then pulling
up beforehand. If timed correctly, the airspeed once the target is reached is
virtually zero. Landing on water is simpler, and the larger waterfowl species
prefer to do so whenever

16
Figure 2.9 Illustration of a hummingbird in hovering flight. In the bottom
figure, hummingbird’s wing figure-eight pattern is shown.

2.2 Angle of attack

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 The angle of attack of the wing is one of the main factors that affect the
amount of lift produced; it also has important implications on the amount of
drag that it develops. The angle of attack is the angle at which the leading
edge cuts into the forward flow of air and around 6-15 degrees is often
quoted as being the norm.

Increasing this angle increases the volume of air diverted over the wing
and leads to an increase in lift, but this is at the expense of drag which
quickly increases. This can be demonstrated easily by holding your hand out
of a car window as it is being driven along. If you hold your hand flat and
then gently rotate it into the oncoming airflow you should feel a gradual
increase in lift until finally when you turn it too far it will suddenly lose all its
lift and your hand will be jerked backward by the airflow, this is called a stall
and is due to the loss of a smooth airflow over your hand.

A bird can obviously adjust this angle of attack, not just simply by rotating
its wing but also by changing the attitude of its entire body with respect to
its forward motion. So during slow flight birds and aircraft tend to fly nose up
with a fairly high angle of attack, whilst traveling at speed they tend towards
nose down, producing a much lower angle of attack. During take-off, when
there is very little airflow over the wings, birds such as pigeons increase the
angle of attack to give the wing greater purchase on the air so that a larger
amount of force can be generated. During a stoopon the other hand a falcon
will minimize the angle of attack to allow it to slip through characteristics.
The air with a minimum of drag

2.4 Aspect ratio

The aspect ratio of a wing is calculated as b2/S, where b is the wingspan

and S is the surface area of the wing. The aspect ratio of a wing is important
as generally the higher the aspect ratio (longer and narrower wings) the
lower the induced drag produced by the wing at a given speed. Wings with a

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high aspect ratio tend to be found on birds that soar at relatively high speed
whilst those with lower aspect ratios (shorter, wider wings) are found on
birds that soar at lower speeds.

Drag is produced when high pressure air passing under the wing swirls
upward into the low pressure area above and behind the wing. As it does the
air creates a sheet of eddies that disrupts the movement of air across the
wings trailing edge. This phenomenon reduces lift and leads to drag creating
turbulence which is most pronounced at the wingtip, where it is called the tip
vortex. This phenomena can often be seen in aircraft where vapor trails can
be seen emanating from the wingtips, especially during hard maneuvers.
This effect can be diminished by increasing the length of the wing and so
decreasing the tip to wing length ratio. The air directly behind the wingtip is
the rising part of the vortex and it is this that the formation flying birds
exploit. To get the best out of it they must be tucked in closely behind the
leading bird or they will fly into the downwash. In this manner they can
minimize their energy usage.

Many birds have a requirement for shorter wings and so another method
of dissipating tip vortex has evolved. In aircraft, vertical winglets are often
placed at the end of the wing to dissipate these vortices in a vertical plane.
Birds use a similar method, although in this case their winglets are formed by
the primary feathers of the wing. This design of wing is often termed, slotted,
meaning that there are gaps between the feathers so that each feather acts
independently. As I say, this is most pronounced at the wing tip, where, if you
watch a bird in flight you will see these feathers bending upward as the air
from below the wing gushes up into the low pressure above. This bending of
the feathers leads to the displacement of the tip vortices to the vertical
dimension, thus spreading it across a greater area of the wing, leading to a
decrease in induced drag. It also leads to the production of forward
momentum.

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 It is not only the length of the wings that affect the flight characteristics of
the bird, so does the chord length or width of the wing. The longer the chord
length of the wing, the greater the separation of the air over its surface can
be. So birds with wide wings are generally able to derive more lift from the
air they pass through than birds with narrow wings.

2.5 Wing loading

This is defined as the weight of the bird/wing area and measured in

grams/centimeter square (g/cm2). Wing loadings have an important
implication on large birds and explain why there is a limit to their size.

As a bird increase in size, its volume, and so its mass will increase by the
cube root, whilst the wing surface only increases as a square root, this is
often termed scaling. As the bird gets larger its wing loading will increase
until it reaches a value that cannot be sustained.

2.6 The Tail

The wings of a bird generally lie slightly ahead of the centre of gravity;
this means that when a bird flies its posterior trails in the airflow behind it.
The tail provides not only the lift required buoying up the weight of the body
but it also helps in flight control. The tail can be adjusted in a number of
ways to help balance, steer or brake the body in flight.

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 CHAPTER NO 03

MATHEMATICAL MODELING

3.1 Force Analysis of Bird Flight

If we analyze the flight of a bird, there will be four forces acting on it.

1) Weight

2) Lift

3) Drag

4) Thrust

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 Figure 3.1 forces on bird during flight

1) Weight is a force acting downwards and is equal to;

W=mg
Where ‘m’ is the mass of a bird and ‘g’ is gravitational acceleration and its value is 9.81
m/sec2.
2) Lift is a force which counteracts weight. It is the only force which is responsible for
lifting up the Bird to achieve certain height.
It is equal to;
FL = 1/2 CLV2ρA

‘ρ’ is the density of air in which the bird is moving. It is vary with temperature and
altitude.
At T=25c° and sea level pressure its value is 1.225 kg/m3.
‘V’ is the speed of the moving bird in air.
‘A’ is the wings area of the bird.
‘CL’ is the coefficient of lift, it is a dimensionless quantity and it strongly depends on
angle of attack and weakly depends on Reynolds No.

3) Drag is a force which opposes the forward motion of a bird in air.

FD = ½ CDρAfV2
‘ρ’ is the density of air in which the bird is moving. It is vary with temperature and
altitude.
At T=25c° and sea level pressure its value is 1.225 kg/m3.
‘V’ is the speed of the moving bird in air.
‘Af’ is the frontal area of the bird.

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 ‘CD’ is the coefficient of drag, it is a dimensionless quantity and it strongly depends on
angle of attack and weakly depends on Reynolds No.It also depends on shape of the
object moving in the air or fluid.
4) Thrust is a force which persuades the bird to move ahead in air. In order for the bird to
fly, thrust should be greater than drag.

3.2 Mathematical Calculations

Design Assumptions:

1) Air will be in a static condition i.e. Vair=o m/sec

2) Density of air remains constant.
3) Velocity of the bird is 4 m/sec.
4) Strouhal No for bird is 0.16.
Note: Strouhal No gives a relation b/w velocity, flapping frequency and amplitude of
flapping. Strouhal no is used in oscillation motion. A recent paper by Taylor suggests that,
for a wide variety of animals (including fish as well as birds and insects), efficient
cruising locomotion requires that a certain dimensionless quantity Xf /v be in the range
0.15–0.4, and for birds in cruising flight it is almost always nearly equal to 0.2. (This
number is called the Strouhal number after the Czech physicist Vincent Strouhal (1850–
1922).

Calculations

Mass of the whole bird = m=300 gm

3.2.1 Weight of the whole bird

W= 300 gm x 9.81 = 2.94 N

W=2.94 N

3.2.2 Lift required by the bird to overcome weight

FL= 150% of weight = 1.5 X 2.94 = 4.41 N

FL=4.41 N

3.2.3 Area of the wing required to produce 4.41 N lift

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 FL = 1/2 CLV2ρA

 A= 2 FL/CLV2ρ

A= 2 X 4.41/ (1.3)(42)(1.225)
A= 0.35 m2

3.2.4 Drag force acting upon bird

FD = ½ CDρAfV2

FD= ½. (1.15)(1.225)(0.12)(42)

FD= 1.35 N

Figure 3.2 Relationship between forward velocity and drag

3.3.5 Thrust required by the bird to overcome Drag

FT = 150 % of Drag

FT = 1.5 X 1.35

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 FT = 2.02 N

3.2.6 Wing Amplitude

X = r .θ

X = 0.4 . 57°. ∏/180

X= 0.47 m

3.2.7 Flapping frequency required to achieve the design lift and thrust

Strouhal No = σ = X.f/V

f= V. σ /X

f=4X 0.16/0.47
f=1.36 flaps/sec = 80 flaps per/min

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 Figure 3.3 Relationships between wings frequency and forward velocity

3.2.8 Angular frequency

ⱷ = 2ᴨf
ⱷ=2ᴨ .1.36 (57°. ᴨ/180°)
ⱷ= 8.50 rad/Sec

3.2.9 Time period

T=1/f
T =1/1.36
T= 0.73 Sec

3.2.10 Power required

Power = power required to overcome weight + power required to overcome drag

OR power required for lift OR power required for thrust

PT = PL + PT ………… (1)

E=1/2mV2 PD= FD.V

P=dE/dT PD= ½ CDρAfV2.V
PL= d (1/2mV2)/dTPD= ½ CDρAfV3
PL= ½ V2 (dm/dT)
PL=½ V2 (ρ .dV/dT)
PL=½ V2 (ρ A. dX/dT)
PL=½ V2 (ρ A. V)
PL=½ ρ A V3
Eq (1) becomes;
PT = ½ ρ A V3+ ½ CDρAfV3
PT = 1/2 ρ V3 [A+CDA]
PT= ½.1.225 .(43) [0.35 + 0.12 .1.15]
PT=19.12 Watt ≈20 Watt

3.2.11 Area required for control surfaces

Force of drag generated by control surfaces will be,

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FDc.s = ½ CDρAC.SV2 ……………… (1)

And

FDc.s=∆P/∆t =m ∆V/∆t =m ( Vf- vi)/(tf – ti) ……………….. (2)

Comparing Eq (1) & (2)

½ CDρAC.SV2 = m (Vf- vi)/(tf – ti)

AC.S =2 m (Vf- vi)/(tf – ti)(CD)( ρ)(V2)

As

m=0.300 gm
Vf= 0m/sec
Vi= V= 4m/sec
CD=1.15
ρ = 1.225 kg/ m
ti= 0 sec
tf=6 sec (assume that bird stops after 6 sec)
Putting values, we get,
AC.S = 0.0177 m2

Figure 3.4 relationships between Area of control surface and the time span of stoppage.

3.2.12 Design of Gearbox

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 The most critical part of spy bird is the drive mechanism and gearbox that converts the
rotational motion from the drive motor to the flapping motion of wing. This system is complex to
design and fabricate because it must withstand very large force which reverse direction several
times a second while at the same time being extremely light and durable. Because of the load it
must be made from such a material that is light in weight and not damaged. So we selected hard
nylon which is light in weight and of high strength for the fabrication of gear box.

The required flapping frequency of wings is 80 flaps per minute and one revolution of output
main gear gives one flap. As the rpm required for flapping the wings are 80 rpm and the drive
motor we selected give 1460 rpm. The torque that drive motor gives is also less but to flaps a
wing need high torque. Thus we design a suitable gear box to reduce the rpm to required value
and increase torque.

Gear box we designed consist of four gears, Pinion gear mounted on the drive motor shaft,
mixer large gear, mixer small gear and main gear which is mounted on shaft to which cam plate
is mounted for flapping action.

Input speed from drive motor = N1 = 1460 rpm

Required output speed for flapping wings =N2 = 80 rpm

So

Required speed reduction ratio = N1: N2 = 1460: 80

= 18.23: 1 (±1 %)

Since the ratio is greater than 10: 1, but less than 100: 1, a two stage compound gear box is
needed. In order to obtain the number of teeth for each gear in each stage, factor the overall ratio
into two stages.

Train value = e = 18.23 = 4.33 × 4.21

Let “T” represent the number of teeth on gear and “D” represent the diameter of gear so

Pinion teeth number = T1 and diameter = D1

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Mixer gear large number of teeth = T2 and diameter = D2

Mixer gear small number of teeth = T3 and diameter = D3

Main gear number of teeth = T4 and diameter = D4

T2/T1 = 4.33 - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - eq (1)

T4/T3 = 4.21 -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - eq (2)

Now we have two equations and four unknown number of teeth, two free choices are
available. We choose T1 = 12 and T3 = 19 such that no interference occurs.

Now from eq (1) & 2 we got T2= 52 & T4 = 80

To find the diameter of each gear we will use the following equation

D2/D1 = T2/T1 = 4.33 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -eq (3)

D4/D3 = T4/T3 = 4.21 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - eq(4)

Assume D1 = 7 mm and D3 = 10.5 mm we get

D2 = 30 mm and D4 = 44 mm

Final result we got

T1 =12 , T2 = 52 , T3 = 19 , T4 = 80

D1 =7 mm , D2 =30 mm , D3 = 10.5 mm , D4 = 44 mm

29
 Figure 3.5 gear box drawing

Figure 3.6 the main motor and the different kinds of gears

30
 CHAPTER NO 04

WING AND TAIL DESIGN

4.1 wings

The fundamental part of the bird that keeps it in air like an air plane is its wings. Wings
produce lift and thrust

4.1.1 Wings action

Flapping wings work on the same principle as an airplane propeller, except they are moving
up and down. The wings flap with an up-and-down motion, usually. But as the wings move up
and down, they are also moving forward through the air along with the rest of the bird. During
flapping in the down stroke the air is pushed down and back like the propeller of a plane and as
result the required aerodynamic force is generated. This force is called is called the normal
aerodynamic force and is always perpendicular to the incoming air, which is always inclined
forward. This normal aerodynamic force has two components one is lift which balances weight
and the other is thrust overcoming drag.
31
4.1.2 Types of wings

As we based our designed on real bird so here we will study different types of wings,
belonging to different species of birds. They are given below;

Elliptical wings

Elliptical wings are generally short and rounded. These wings allow a high degree of control
and maneuverability in confined spaces, and minimize drag to allow rapid take-off and landing.
Wing beat is usually rapid.

High speed wings

These types of wings are found on swallows, falcons and ducks. The wings taper to a point to
allow for high flight speed with low drag and low energy consumption during flight.

Because the wings are also thin, they must be flapped for short glides and during descent, and
flaps are fairly rapid but small. This type of wing is aerodynamically efficient for high-speed flight
but cannot easily keep a bird airborne at low speeds.

Long soaring wings

High aspect wings are much longer than they are wide, and are specially designed for slow
flying or gliding. There are open spaces among feathers to leak the pressure in up stroke to
produce lift on less power expenditure. They are mostly found interns, albatrosses, gannets, frigate
birds, gulls and other sea birds.

High-lift/Broad soaring wings

They are found on vultures, hawks, pelicans and eagles. These wings are broad and only
relatively long, allowing for take-off and landing in fairly confined areas. These wings have the
ability to perform a fast take off.

4.1.3 Selection of wings

32
 As in our spy bird we need strong maneuverability and high degree of control in confined space.
In addition to it we also need a rapid take-off and landing so we decided to design elliptical wings
for our robot.

The schematic as shown in figure 4.1

Figure 4.1the proposed model of wings

The figure above shows a semi ellipse having major and minor axes B and A respectively. The
area of ellipse can found as

Area = π ( A × B )

The area of semi ellipse then becomes

π ( A × B)
Area) semi ellipse = ---------- (1)
2

Where

A=minor axis

B=major axis

So here in our bird case the major axis is one half of wing span and the minor axis is equal to the
root chord of the wing.

Let if b and c are the wing span and root chord of the wing respectively then

33
 A=c

And

B=½ ( span )

Now by putting the values B and A in equation (1) we will get the area of the wings i.e.

Area) wings = ( b2 )
π c×
----------- (2)
2

As we have found the area of the wing is 0.35 m2, now we can easily find the wings span and
the root chord of the wings. Now keeping the chord value constant and changing the wing span
value up to certain value so by this way will get different values of c and b. But we also know
that long and narrow wing produces more lift at the cost of low drag.so keeping a suitable value
of wing span for certain value of wing loading, like

b=94 cm

We will get the chord value corresponding to it as

c=24 cm

4.1.4 Pro-E design of wings

Figure 4.2 shows the Pro-E design of wings

34
 Figure 4.2 3D models of elliptical wings

4.1.5 Fabricated wings

Figure 4.3 shows the actual fabricated wings of our bird

Figure 4.3 Fabricated wings

4.1.5 Flapping mechanism of wing

Wings are hinged freely with fuselage with the help of simple mechanism i.e. two metal holed
hinges are screwed with the fuselage at a distance and the two ends of the wings to which 360
degree ball and socket mechanism is attached to carbon rods and is placed inside the two metal
hinges. To constrain the motion of the wings simply up and down, a small bolt is inserted in the

35
hole of hinges and ball and socket holes. After that the bolt was fixed in its position with the help
of nut. Now moving from hinge position toward the wing tip, another joint of single 360 degree
ball and socket mechanism is made to ensure the reciprocating motion of the wing. This 360
degree ball and socket mechanism is then attached to crank plate; the crank plate lower part is
fixed with lager gear (output gear) which rotates with gear but the upper portion is freely
connected with lower end of the single 360 degree ball and socket mechanism. The analogy of
this system is like the pedal of bi-cycle i.e. when the rear wheel of the bi-cycle is rotated the
pedal moves up and down with circular motion. Here the crank plate acts like a bi-cycle pedal.

One thing is worth mentioning here that is the use of 360 degree ball and socket mechanism.
The ball and socket mechanism permits 360 degree rotation or full circle movement with lowest
contact friction resulting in twisting of wings. Here twisting of wings provide pushing of air rear
ward producing thrust. Here a question arises why the lift generated in down stroke is not
cancelled with the negative lift generated in upstroke of the wings? The answer is pretty much
simple i.e. with the use of 360 degree ball and socket mechanism, in down stroke the leading
edge of wings twist a bit down and the trailing edge moves up and in up stroke the leading edge
moves up and the trailing edge moves down as a result making the wing slanted from leading
edge towards trailing edge. This slanted effect minimizes the opposing force of air on wings by
splitting this force into components, now a single component of this force acts to oppose the
motion in up stroke.

The whole frame of the wing is made of carbon fiber rods and the different joints are fastened
with the help of strong adhesive like epoxy. After making the wing frame on both sides of
fuselage, it was covered with parachute cloth to achieve the intended purpose of flight. The
parachute cloth we used for the covering is ‘’American parachute cloth’’.

The complete assembly of wing frame is shown in figure 4.4

36
 Figure 4.4wing frame assembly

4.6 Tail

The wings are not the only lifting surfaces found on birds, the tail also plays an important role in
flight. Also, the tail of the bird is used as a control surface and is rapidly and continuously moved
during flight both to maintain stability and to induce turns about all three axes of the bird. The
tail is the main control surface relevant to pitch in a bird, and a bird without a tail is barely able
to fly due largely to pitch instability.

Lift produced is proportional to the angle of attack of the tail, the square of the maximum
continuous span and the square of the forward speed of the bird when the air is considered to be
stationary.

37
4.6.1 Design of Tail

For spy bird we designed two tails. The initially designed tail had some balancing problems.
Therefore, we switched to another design to achieve the required task of balancing and we
succeeded in the second design.

Initial design

Initial designed of tail was of V-shape. The purpose of V-shape of our initial design was due
to reason like, when our bird is in motion during its flight; the air passes across the tail will
diverge, resulting into the division of air passing through the tail longitudinally. Now the same
air will flow on each side resulting same pressure on both sides due to which the tail would
maintain the equilibrium of the bird. But, all of our assumptions went wrong when we set the
bird into test flight and it crashed few times after rising few meters high. This tail could not
maintain the balance of bird during its flight due to excessive vibration in wings.

Figure 4.5 shows the initially fabricated V shape tail.

Figure 4.5V-tail

38
Second design of tail

After several times test flight on first design we concluded that we have to alter our design
from V shape to Flat shape as almost all of the birds have. So we disassembled the V-tail and
made it flattened of the same area as V-tail was. After setting into test flight we found that the
bird was cruising well without any unbalancing.

Figure 4.6 shows the flat design of tail

Figure 4.6 flat design tails

4.6.2 Control surfaces on tail

For taking-off, landing and steering certain control surface are needed like airplane has. In
airplane these control surfaces are;

 Rudder

It controls yaw (right or left) and is placed on trailing edge of vertical stabilizer (tail)

 Ailerons

They control roll (bank) of airplane and is attached to both wings trailing edge.

39
  Elevators

They control the pitching (nose up or down) of airplane, and help in landing and taking-off.
They are attached to trailing edge of horizontal stabilizer.

But here in spy bird we have a single tail and we are incorporating Rudder and Elevator on
single tail despite of two. In this model we are mixing rudders and elevators to steer, take-off and
land the bird respectively.

At the same time if both of them are opened or closed they behave like Elevator and will
pitch the bird up or down depend on the flipping direction of both of them. If individually, one is
closed and the other is open and vice versa then they behave like Rudders. Both of them are
connected with two micro servos with the help of push rods.

The figures below show the above scenario

 As elevators

Figure4.7.1 and Figure 4.7.2 show that the control surfaces behave as elevators.

In figure 4.7.1 both the elevators are open, means that the bird will take up i.e. positivepitching.

Figure 4.7.1 pitching up

40
In figure 4.7.2 both the elevators are closed means that the bird will land i.e. negative
pitching.

Figure 4.7.2 pitching down

 As rudders

41
Figure 4.8.1 and Fig: 4.8.2 refer when the control surfaces are used as rudders for steering bird.

Figure 4.8.1 bird turning to left

Figure 4.8.2 the bird will turn to right

42
4.7 Turn radius

Turn radii can be calculated for gliding flight (neglecting drag, i.e. Assuming no loss of
altitude) and flapping flight (including drag). Minimum turn radius is proportional to the
square of bird’s peed (V) and the square of body mass (M) and inversely proportional to the
square of total lift (L).

So here we have one variable that is the speed of bird, by changing the speed of air the turn
radius would change. The relationship of turn radius and velocity of air is given in the figure 4.9

Figure 4.9 Relationship between turn radius and velocity

43
 CHAPTER N0 05

SOFTWARE MODELING

Our software modeling includes;

1) Auto CAD modeling

2) Pro-E modeling

5.1 Auto CAD Modeling

5.1.1 Gear Box

44
 Figure 5.1 Gear box

5.1.2 Crank Plate

Figure 5.2 Crank plate

45
5.1.3 Tail

Figure 5.3 Tail

5.1.4 Wing top view

Figure 5.4 Wing top view

5.1.5 Top View

46
 Figure 5.5 Top view of bird

5.1.6 Side View

47
 Figure 5.6 Side view of bird

5.2 Pro-E Modeling

5.2.1 Front View

48
 Figure 5.7 Front view of bird

5.2.2 Side View

Figure 5.8 Side view of bird

5.2.3 Top View

49
 Figure 5.9 Top view of bird

5.2.4 Default View

Figure 5.10 Default view of bird

CHAPTER NO 6

50
 PROTOTYPING

6.1 Introduction

Before starting the actual model of SPY BIRD we constructed a prototype of BIRD.

PROTOTYPING was carried out in two steps

 Fuselage
 Aerodynamic shape

Fuselage was fabricated from balsa wood and steel bar as a reinforcing material.

The nose was of complete wood material. And aerodynamic portion that is wings and tail
were fabricated from simple paper, wings are shaped elliptical and were glued to wing frame
constructed from wood bars. The tail is in triangular shape with control surfaces (rudder and
elevator) mixed (not present in prototype). The model of gear box and linkages were fixed inside
fuselage.

6.2 DIMENSIONS AND TESTING

Following are the dimension of the prototype

Wings span = 52 mm

Tail area = 9.5×10 mm2

Fuselage=15.5 mm

Wing chord= 10 mm

Total width= 1 mm

51
 Figure 6.1 Fuselage with gear box

After all the fabrication process, gliding test was performed for the evaluation of its
aerodynamic performance, and center of gravity effect. The gliding snaps are shown below, and
it’s clear from picture the aerodynamic shape given to that bird is working well and it is
completely in balance position and the weight are placed correctly. The tail performance was not
too much good due to some aerodynamic factor which was modified then and is discussed in
later chapter.

Figure 6.2 Prototype model

52
 CHAPTER NO 07

FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY

The next phase after Pro-E and AutoCAD modeling was the fabrication of bird. The
fabrication process is explained under the topics of individual parts.

7.1 Tail

The lower portion of the fuselage (carbon fiber rod) was extended to place the tail on it at an
angle of attack of 110 .The plane form of the tail is of triangular shape. The frame of this
triangular shape is also made of carbon fiber rods having diameter 1.5 mm. the height of this
triangular plane form is 17 cm and base length 34 cm. the carbon fiber rods were cut in the
desired length and were permanently fastened with epoxy. After making tail’s frame it was
covered with parachute cloth.

Figure7.1 Tail

53
7.2 wings

Wings are the most crucial part of the bird like propeller in an air aircraft. It was the most
difficult part to design and to actuate. Like tail, the wing frame is also made of carbon fiber rods
having diameter 1.5 mm. For making the desired flapping mechanism, first two wing levers were
made of the length 46 cm. near at the end of the wing lever another carbon fiber rod was joined
permanently at an angle to make a divergence and at each end a ball and socket was attached.
Two metal holed hinges were screwed with the fuselage at a distance. 360 degree ball and socket
mechanism was then placed inside the two metal hinges.

To constrain the motion of the wings simply up and down, a small bolt was inserted in the
hole of hinges and ball and socket respectively. After that the bolt was fixed in its position with
the help of nut. To complete the wing’s frame, two stiffeners were joined loosely with each wing
lever to hold the parachute cloth firmly like the spokes of an umbrella.

Figure7.2 Wings top view

7.3 Ball and socket mechanism

The ball and socket mechanism permits 360 degree rotation or full circle movement with
lowest contact friction. Moving from hinge position toward the wing tip a joint of single 360
degree ball and socket mechanism was made to ensure the reciprocating motion of the wing.

54
This 360 degree ball and socket mechanism was then attached to crank plate; the crank plate
lower part was fixed with main gear (output gear) which rotates with gear but the upper portion
was freely connected with lower end of the single 360 degree ball and socket mechanism.

7.4 Control surfaces

Control surfaces are responsible for controlling the yawing and pitching of bird. We have two
control surfaces on the tail; sometimes they behave as rudders and sometimes they behave as
elevator depending upon the choice of direction control. These control surfaces are made of
lightest material of balsa wood of suitable size i.e. 20-30 % of area of tail. They are attached to
servos with the help of push rods, each having length 18 cm.

Figure7.3 Control surfaces attached to tail

7.5 Control Rods

Control rod also called push rod is used to transmit the motion of Servo motor to control
surface; we have used two push rods, one for each control surface. Push rods are made up of
Carbon fiber rods and its purpose is to transmit force from servo motor to control surfaces in
order to move the control surfaces up and down. Each push rod is having a length of 18 cm and
diameter of 1.5 mm.

55
 Figure 7.4 Control/ push rod

7.6 Crank plate

The basic function of crank plate is to convert the rotating motion of output main gear to the
reciprocating motion of wing. Crank plate is made from hard nylon. Its total length is 3 cm with
having two holes (1cm, 5 cm) at center to center distance of 2 cm.

A shaft from the main output gear is passed through the larger diameter hole in the crank
plate while connecting rod is attached to the small hole of the crank plate.

Figure 7.5 Crank plate

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7.7 Fuselage

Fuselage is the main body of spy bird. It contain gear box. Battery, receiver, ESC and spying
camera mounted on the fuselage of the bird. Fuselage has the length of 30 cm. Fuselage consists
of three parts.

I. Front part
II. Middle part
III. Rare part

Front of the fuselage is made of lightest balsa which make the head of a bird. Middle part is a
wire frame of Carbon fiber rod which traps the plastic plates; the plastic plates hold the shafts of
gearbox. Wings are attached to middle part of fuselage through two metal hinges. The last
portion of fuselage is attached to tail.

The carbon fiber rods are cut according to the required length and joined together by epoxy.

Figure 7.6Fuselage

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7.8 Covering

After the complete assembly, the body of the bird covered with Styrofoam. We have cut the
Styrofoam according to the bird shape. The purpose of the covering is to give realistic shape to
the bird and support to battery, receiver, motor and ESC. Styrofoam also protects the electronic
accessories from damage during landing.

Figure 7.4 Styrofoam cover

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 Chapter no 08

ELECTRONICS

8.1 RADIO CONTROL SYSTEM

RC radio system is the heart and brain of spy bird. We have installed radio control system in
our spy bird. The radio system make link between pilot and spy bird, that is the pilot
communicate with spy bird through radio signals.

Remote controls systems are of two types: infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF). In IR
remote controls pulses of infrared light are sent to the device, while in RF remote control system
radio waves are used for communication. The major difference between these two is range.IR
remote control system has range of about 30 feet and requires a clear sight to receiving device.
RF remote controls do not require clear sight its signal can go through wall and obstacle within
range of about 100 feet. As RF remote controls have long range of communication so we
selected RF remote system for spy bird.

Spy bird radio control system has following main parts:

Transmitter, Receiver, Electronic speed controller, Drive motor, 2 servo motors and power source
(battery).

8.1.1 Transmitter

Transmitter is hand held controller that sends pilot input to the receiver in spy bird. The
transmitter converts the pilot’s movement into a radio signal. The process of converting this
signal is called modulation. The Transmitter then sends radio signal to receiver. The receiver
inside the spy bird picks up the command from the radio waves and relays this command to each
servo motor and drive motor.

Transmitter that we selected for spy bird is FM transmitter of frequency band of 2.4 GHz with
six channels (each function that a transmitter perform is channel). We use only three channels
from it, one for controlling the speed of drive motor through electronic speed controller so
controlling flapping frequency of wing and two channels for two servo motors which are fitted

59
near tail joint.

Transmitter parameters

 Channel: 6
 Frequency band: 2.4GHz
 Power source: 1.5V*8”AA” battery
 Modulation type: FM
 Size: 189*97*218mm
 Weight: 576 g
 Antenna length: 26mm

Figure 8.1 Transmitter

8.1.2 Receiver

60
 Receiver is circuit board having a thin wire antenna fitted inside spy bird receive radio signal
from transmitter when pilot move a stick or control and activate drive motor and servo motor as
commanded by the pilot through transmitter.

The receiver is one component in radio controlled system which we cannot select. It comes
along with the radio transmitter, and works with that particular radio on a frequency of 2.4GHz.
Receiver is connected directly to servo motors and electronic speed controller.

Receiver parameters

 Channel: 6
 Frequency band:2.4 GHz
 Power source: 1.5V*4 battery
 Modulation type: FM
 RF receiver sensitivity: -76db
 Size: 25*16.8*6.5
 Weight: 12 g
 Antenna length: 26 mm

Figure 8.2 Receiver

8.1.3 ESC

The word ESC stands for electronic speed controller. An ESC main function in spy bird

61
electronic circuit is to vary the amount of power to the drive motor from the power source
(battery) based upon the position of throttle stick in transmitter. ESC is plugged to receiver’s
throttle channel and connected between drive motor and power source (battery). The Battery
Eliminator Circuit (BEC) is a built-in feature that allows the ESC to power both the motor and
the radio’s receiver with the same battery pack. When the voltage gets too low, the BEC circuit
cuts the motor power and keeps the receiver operating properly so the pilot can land the spy bird.

Working principle

ESC varies the power to the drive motor by rapidly switching on and off the power. ESC
controls drive motor and battery by a switch. To turn on the motor pilot close switch this allows
current to flow to drive motor. If pilot open the switch this stop the flow of current and the motor
will slow down and eventually stop turning. Proportional throttle control is achieved by varying
the amount of time the switch is on relative to amount of time it is off.

In order to achieve smooth throttle response, the switching must occur several times per
second. In our spy bird control system switching is 50 times per second.

Figure 8.3 ESC circuit

ESC specification

 Amp rating: 2A

62
  Burst rate (15sec): 2.3A
 BEC current: 1A, 5V(Linear)
 Voltage: 2-3cell Lipo
 Weight: 8 g
 Dimensions: 23*18*8 mm

Figure 8.4 Electronic speed controllers

8.1.4 Drive motor

We selected brushless motor as drive motor for spy bird. Brushless motor provide a greater
power-to-weight ratio than the traditional brushed DC motor. Drive motor is the heart of spy bird
as it provides power to the wings of bird. Brushless motor produce higher rpm but less torque. To
get low rpm and more torque we designed a gearbox which decrease the rpm and increase torque
to required value. We determined the size of drive motor by the weight of the spy bird. We
selected the brushless motor that can provide required rpm and torque to gearbox which flap bird
wings. The rpm of drive motor we selected determined from the flapping frequency of wings.

Motor specification

 Rpm/V: 1450
 Power: 27 watt
 Max Current: 3.0 A
 Running current: 2.17A

63
  Weight:60 g
 Shaft diameter: 4.0mm

Figure 8.5 Brushless motor

8.1.5 Servo motor

In our spy bird two servo motors are installed to move the two control surfaces attached to
tail. Both servos are plugged to receiver directly. One servo is plugged to channel “1” and other
servo is plugged to channel “2”. Each servo consists of a set of gears that are directly linked to a
“servo horn” or “arm”, located at the top of the servo body. The servo horn is attached to a
control surface (rudder, elevator), through control rod. When the receiver picks up a signal from
the transmitter, that signal is sent to the appropriate servo which causes the horn push or pull.
When servo rotates the horn translates the rotation into a linear movement that moves the control
surfaces. The movement of the servo is directly proportional to the movement of the control
sticks on the transmitter. So the control surface on the spy bird tail moves exactly the way pilot
move the stick on the transmitter.

Figure 8.6 Servo motor with control rod

Servo specification

 Weight: 5 g

64
  Speed: .10
 Torque:1.0 kg*cm
 Voltage: 4.8V-6V
 Gear type: Nylon
 Dimension: 13/16” * 7/16” * 25/32”

Figure 8.7 Servo motor

8.1.6 Power source (battery)

The power source in our spy bird is LiPo battery. Lipo battery gives power to drive motor,
servo motors and receiver. We selected Lipo battery as a power source because it is rechargeable,
lighter in weight and provide much more capacity and voltage compared to Nickel-Cadmium and
Nickel-hydride batteries. The Lipo battery has special charger to recharge it again. We selected
the battery with specification which meets the requirement of main drive motor and servo motor
efficiently.

Battery specification

 Capacity: 450MAH
 Voltage: 11.1V
 Constant discharge: 25C Continuous, 50C Burst
 Charge rate: 5C charging
 Dimension: 58.3*30.3*15.5*
 Weight: 53 g

65
 Figure 8.8 Lipo battery

8.1.7 Circuit diagram

66
Figure 8.9 Electronic Circuit

BILBILOGRAPHY

67
  Beginner’s Guide to Aerodynamics http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K–
12/airplane/bga.html
 S31. 3: The consequences of flight for the evolution of tail ornaments in birds.
Mathew R. Evans Department Biological and Molecular Sciences, university
Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK,
 http://w w w .rcfoamcrafters.com/design.htm
 http://w w w 2.unil.ch/bio mapper/openly/BirdFlight.htm

Electronic chapter References

http://www.eagle-rc.com/basicrc/lesson1.php

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/rc-toy.htm

http://bigmikeh.hubpages.com/hub/radio-controlled

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-remote-controls-work.htm

 http://easyrc.com/radiosystems/index.html

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