birds. The twist is concentrated near the trailing-edge outboard which correlates with

the feathers near the wrist of birds. A more formal approach to this concept is being

designed by NASA but this current vehicle is sufficient to investigate control issues [6].

 Only a single wing is altered in Figure 6-4. The vehicle actually contains separate

servos for each wing that allow the morphing to act simultaneously on both wings;

however, this thesis will restrict attention to morphing a single wing. The current

objective considers roll control but the longitudinal issues will be investigated in the

future.

 Also, this vehicle is ideal for the focus of this thesis. Specifically, the morphing

strategy is quite simple but the morphing effect is complicated. This approach allows

the control issues associated with morphing to be easily studied. The vehicle is not

designed to study the optimal strategies for morphing; rather, the vehicle is designed to

study the optimal strategies for control.

 6.3 Flight Testing

 Flight testing is also done on the 12 in MAV in an open area for R/C airplanes.

The flight tests for this MAV are performed in similar conditions as the tests for the

24 in MAV. This MAV is equipped with a data acquisition board which begins logging

when the motor is turned on.

 This MAV is then similarly hand launched into the incoming wind for takeoff.

The primary forms of control for this MAV are the elevator and wing morphing. The

airplane is controlled with these surfaces for takeoff, turns, climbs, and level flight.

The airplane is then trimmed for straight and level flight. Achieving trimmed flight

is necessary as a neutral reference point for the control surfaces and in performing

different flight test maneuvers.

 This MAV is then tested by commanding doublets to the morphing servos. A

representative doublet command is shown in Figure 6-5. The units of this command