Bird Evolution Informs UAV Stability Design

A collaboration between University of Michigan aerospace engineers and University of British Columbia biologists has revealed that the key to agility in bird flight is quickly switching between stable and unstable gliding. It had long been assumed that bird flight was almost entirely unstable. Traditional evolutionary theory concluded that birds were steadily evolving toward less stable flight, but this research has shown that bird flight involves decidedly stable phases. By studying physical bird wing physiology...