{"id":9459,"date":"2014-11-18T15:21:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T22:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=9459"},"modified":"2014-11-18T15:23:22","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T22:23:22","slug":"feathers-flight-inspire-anti-turbulence-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/feathers-flight-inspire-anti-turbulence-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Feathers in Flight Inspire Anti-Turbulence Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cInspired by nature\u2019s own anti-turbulence devices \u2013 feathers,\u201d researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a system that emulates the movements of feathers <\/a>with which birds control their flight path in the most turbulent conditions.<\/p>\n

Dr. Case van Dam gave a talk at the 2014 Electric Aircraft Symposium<\/a> on controlling aircraft in turbulence and providing smoother rides with Gurney flaps, jet flaps and micro tabs.\u00a0 The RMIT team chose to mimic the motions of feathers on a bird\u2019s wing to gain many of the same advantages.\u00a0 The Unmanned Systems Research Team learned enough to file a provisional patent on the system, detecting disturbances in the air ahead of the airplane. \u00a0Both approaches might help the electric commuter aircraft proposed by Dr. Brien Seeley and Dr. Mark Moore as part of the hoped-for “pocket airpark” system.<\/p>\n