FlapKAD: A Simulation Dataset of Coupled Wing Kinematics and Aerodynamic Dynamics for Flapping-Wing Aerial Vehicles

Flapping-wing aerial vehicles (FWAVs) demonstrate remarkable agility but face substantial autonomy challenges due to their high sensitivity to aerodynamic disturbances and limited sensor payload capacity. Current simulation platforms typically rely on oversimplified laminar flow assumptions and idealized sensor models, failing to capture the complex turbulence patterns and perceptual limitations encountered in real-world operation. This simulation-to-reality discrepancy significantly impedes the development of robust autonomy systems for FWAVs. We introduce FWAV-Sim, a high-fidelity Unity-based simulation framework that integrates: (1) a composite aerodynamic model combining quasi-steady blade-element theory with bluff-body drag effects, (2) spatiotemporally correlated turbulence generation through fractal noise synthesis, and (3) realistic sensor simulation including noisy IMU measurements, LiDAR point clouds, and RGB camera feeds. Our platform enables scalable generation of synchronized datasets containing ground-truth vehicle states, aerodynamic forces, turbulent wind fields, and multi-modal sensor streams. Experimental validation demonstrates that autonomy pipelines (including both controllers and perception systems) developed in FWAV-Sim exhibit significantly improved simulation capability, thereby advancing the outstanding performance in simulation-based development for flapping-wing aerial systems.

Flapping-wing vehicles regulate aerodynamic forces and moments through coordinated variations in stroke, deviation, and pitch motion. Because the resulting loads depend on both the instantaneous wing configuration and its preceding motion history, recovering suitable wing kinematics from a desired aerodynamic trajectory is a challenging inverse problem. Existing sequence models capture temporal dependencies, while spectral methods can exploit the periodic structure of flapping motion. However, unrestricted frequency-domain augmentation may interfere with temporal representations and produce inconsistent corrections across kinematic variables and prediction horizons. We propose the Bounded Channel-Adaptive Spectral Residual Gated Recurrent Unit (BCS-GRU), which retains recurrent temporal prediction as its primary representation and restricts spectral information to a controlled output-specific correction. We further introduce a causally aligned forward-consistency objective that evaluates predicted kinematics through a separately trained and frozen aerodynamic surrogate. Experiments under a unified episode-level protocol show that BCS-GRU improves inverse prediction over recurrent and adaptive-spectral baselines, with greater benefits at longer prediction horizons. Forward-consistent fine-tuning further improves surrogate-based aerodynamic consistency while maintaining mean kinematic accuracy. These results demonstrate that controlled spectral correction and forward-consistent learning provide an effective framework for history-aware inverse modelling of flapping-wing aerodynamics.

Sub-gram flapping-wing flying insect robots (FIRs) are challenging to model because of mechanical complexity in their wings, unsteady aerodynamic flow, and the difficulty of making precise measurements at a small scale. Coupling effects between roll and pitch torque actuation have not previously been measured because a two-axis sensor that is sensitive enough has not been realized. To address this shortcoming, we introduce a microfabricated gimbal design capable of precisely and simultaneously measuring roll and pitch torques as well as thrust. We then used it to measure the extent to which a pitch torque command affects roll torque and vice versa on a 180 mg piezo-actuated flapping-wing flying platform. Our results show a high coefficient of determination in the linear regression for both pitch (0.95) and roll (0.98) and low cross-correlation coefficients (-0.001 and -0.085, respectively) across the full range of simultaneous torque commands, indicating negligible cross-axis coupling. Similarly, thrust force deviates by a maximum of only 5.8% from the mean thrust value. These results validate the assumption that pitch and toll can be considered independently in control and will inform future models of how inputs affect the aerodynamics of resonant flapping-wing systems.