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David Tandy
2 minute read time.

The Hammersmith section of the London Network is mounting its first face to face event in over two years at our usual venue - Novotel London West.

This is a talk by Professor Richard Bomphrey of the Royal Veterinary College entitled "Would planes be better If they were more like birds?"

Novotel London West on Tuesday 15th March at 7pm. You will not be admitted unless you register before the event here:

https://events.theiet.org/events/solutions-to-engineering-challenges-from-bioscience-research/

Richard’s research blends biology and engineering. He uses biomechanics as a tool to investigate evolutionary biology and how the physical environment determines the morphology and control systems of flying animals. He has worked on the sensory mechanisms of insects and birds, including flow-sensing, load-sensing, and optic flow. Richard’s work uses advanced equipment to investigate animal flight and understand their aerodynamic footprints by observing the motion of smoke or bubbles floating in the air. He has applied insights from biology to aerial robots inspired by birds and insects. Richard joined the Structure and Motion Laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, in 2013 after reading Biological Sciences at Exeter, undertaking a DPhil (PhD) in Oxford, postdoctoral positions in Oxford and Bath, and an EPSRC Fellowship. He is currently Professor of Comparative Biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College and Vice Principal for Research. He describes his presentation as follows:

I will present two recent examples of how fundamental bioscience research can teach us about animal ecology, and also offer solutions to engineering challenges. 
Flying animals must perceive and avoid obstacles, often in environments deprived of visual sensory cues.  In my first example, I will show how collision-avoidance in nocturnal mosquitoes can be mediated by mechanosensory feedback, based on modulations of their own induced aerodynamic and acoustic fields as they enter ground- or wall-effect. Our computational fluid dynamics and aeroacoustic simulations are derived from detailed wing kinematics extracted from high-speed recordings of freely flying Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. Results reveal areas of relative pressure changes that are associated with close proximity to the ground and wall planes and that could provide useful information to the flight controller: a mechanism we term ‘aerodynamic imaging’. Using these insights we successfully built an aerial robotic prototype carrying a bio-inspired sensor package. 
In my second example, I will present our work based on measuring the changing shape of birds in flight. I will show how they minimise drag in a different way from aeronautical design, and how they remain unperturbed by strong gusts. Our detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of surface geometries show how wing elevation around the shoulder joint acts as a suspension system that rejects gusts. The mechanism works most effectively when the aerodynamic centre of pressure is aligned with the mechanical centre of percussion, and therefore can be tuned either by changing wing shape or by the distribution of mass within the wing.

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