Project description
Drawing inspiration from the dandelion
Imagine we could fly small drones that remain airborne for days to monitor the environment, search for pollutants, etc. This is not yet possible because insect-scale drones can remain airborne for only a few minutes before the power runs out. By contrast, some natural flyers remain airborne for days. This ERC-funded DANDIDRONE project is inspired by the dandelion, which takes off from just 30 cm away from the ground, and travels for hundreds of kilometres powered only by the wind. The project seeks to understand and establish proof of principle of a completely new fluid dynamics mechanism that might enable small flyers to passively hover in turbulent wind.
Objective
In the next decade, distributed sensor network systems made of small flying sensors, from dust-scale to insect-scale, will enable a step change in monitoring natural disasters and remote areas. They will contribute to protecting the environment by providing data on the contamination of physical and biological systems and on the impact of human activities. To date, a key limitation of this technology is that small sensors can remain airborne only for a few tens of minutes.
By contrast, some natural flyers such as the dandelion fruit, travel unpowered for days and hundreds of kilometres. Recent work led by Viola and published in Nature1, reveals that the dandelion adopts a highly porous wing to forms a new fluid vortex that has never been observed before, and to increase its aerodynamic efficiency by an order of magnitude. Furthermore, the dandelion’s unique shape enables to exploit horizontal wind gusts to re-gain altitude and remain airborne for days. This latter mechanism has never been studied, nor artificially replicated, and could lead to a ground-breaking discovery on how to sustain the unpowered flight of small manmade flyers.
Fundamental bio-inspired fluid mechanics research will be undertaken with high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (work packages WP1-2) and will inform the design of a dandelion-inspired drone, the DANDIDRONE. This will be the first unpowered insect-scale flyer capable to sustain hover in wind gusts.
A steering system to control the swarm dispersal in the atmosphere will be developed in WP3; a prototype will be manufactured in WP4 and it will be demonstrated with wind tunnel tests in WP5. A first-of-its-kind wind tunnel for low Reynolds number gust encounter research will be developed. Finally, the impact of this project will be maximised in WP6 by engaging with key stakeholders and by paving the way to the development of a new class of distributed sensor network systems with unprecedented endurance.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture fruit growing
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics autonomous robots drones
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom
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