Aerodynamic Analysis of V-Shaped Flight Formation of Flapping-Wing Drones: Analytical and Experimental Studies

This paper aims to simulate and design a V-shaped flight formation of flapping wing drones for the purpose of analyzing the induced drag experienced on each drone. Similar experiments have conducted analysis on V-shaped flight formations of drones. However, the distinct difference between this paper and other experiments is that this paper will utilize a flapping wing motion on the drones, while the other experiments utilized fixed-wing drones. The effects of flapping-wing drones may have a better correlation to the effects experienced on migrating birds when they form V-shaped flights, thus bringing further insight into how aerodynamical effects of V-shaped formation flights aid migrating birds. Furthermore, experimenting with flapping-wing drones in V-shaped flights may also bring insight into increasing the power efficiency of drones.