Beihang flapping wing unmanned aerial vehicle sets world record for endurance

Recently, the New Concept Aircraft Team of the Frontier Science and Technology Innovation Research Institute of Beihang University independently developed and tested a double joint large bird flapping wing aircraft, which set a world record - the flapping wing unmanned aerial vehicle had the longest single charge flight time, with a flight range of 1 hour 31 minutes 04.98 seconds.

Flawing flight is the way organisms fly, just like birds flapping their wings to fly. Humans have been exploring this field for thousands of years. The new concept aircraft team led by Professor Jiao Zongxia and Associate Researcher Zhao Longfei from Beihang University has pioneered the "flapping wing propulsion wave" theory, which constructs a time averaged analytical wave transport model for periodic flapping wing motion, opening up a theoretical channel for quickly evaluating aerodynamic performance from complex flapping wing parameters, and thus solving the problem of forward optimization design of flapping wings.

The double jointed large bird flapping wing aircraft applied for this flight time record has a theoretical flight efficiency higher than most fixed wing aircraft. Preliminary flight time tests were conducted in early 2021, and the actual flight time reached 53 minutes. After further optimization and adjustment of the power system and wing dynamics, the team has achieved another leap in the performance of the flapping wing aircraft, reaching the best state of the current record challenge.