The future of drones lies in paper planes

The future of drones lies in paper planes

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A new study published in the journal Journal of Fluid Mechanics could change the way drone and other small flying devices are designed. A team of researchers from New York University wanted to understand the aerodynamic principles of paper airplanesone of the simplest yet understudied forms of flight.

They found that the operation of paper planes was very different from planes conventional ones and that there is no mathematical model that allows their behavior to be predicted. The researchers therefore set up their own experiment with paper planes, moving the center ofinertia from front to back thanks to an adhesive tape in copper. They also proceeded in a similar way with plates thrown in water.

This video shows a simulation of the trajectory of paper planes with, for each color, a different center of inertia. The line in blue corresponds to the optimal positioning of the center of inertia. © NYU’s Applied Mathematics Laboratory

Optimal placement of the center of inertia allows you to hover

If the center of inertia is around the middle of the wing, the aircraft behaves erratically. Placed too close to the edge of the wing, and the aircraft dives. Between the two is a point of balance where the aerodynamic forces lower the wing when the plane tries to climb, and raise it when it tries to descend. He manages to hover.

The results enabled them to create a “flight simulator” capable of predicting the movements of these objects. The researchers clarified that this does not apply to the wings ofplane classics, but only to thin, flat wings. This could allow the creation of small flying devices, such as drones, which do not need a stabilizer or other additional aerodynamic surfaces.

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