Insect Spies: Tiny craft can fly by flapping wings

UPI
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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The ability for a tiny man-made vehicle to fly through the flapping of wings while carrying its own energy source has been achieved, the company responsible said. AeroVironment Inc., a California company, announced that the Defense Advanced research Projects Agency had awarded it a contract extension to design and build a working prototype of a nano air vehicle.

The contract extension is worth $2.1 million and continues through summer 2010 for work that uses “biological mimicry at an extremely small scale,” which would allow for “new military reconnaissance capabilities in urban environments,” a company release said.

AeroVironment said its NAV reached a technological milestone when the craft, using two flapping wings and carrying its own energy source, managed controlled hovering flight. The company said the NAV used only the wings for propulsion and control.

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• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

While in flight the NAV was able to climb and descend, fly forward and back and also left and right while under remote control.

“The NAV program will push the limits of aerodynamic and power conversion efficiency, endurance, and maneuverability for very small, flapping wing air vehicle systems,” Todd Hylton, DARPA program manager, said in a release.

Full story here.

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