Research News
Barn owl Happy during "flight experiment": DLR researchers let the owl fly inside a room and photographed its wings to obtain information as to how a bird bends its wings during flight. Photo: DLR
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Air Show for Science
With their flight, the two barn owls "Happy" and "Tesla" help scientists to improve their understanding of wing beat movements and of the air flow around the wing. In a room at the RWTH Aachen university, the wings of "Happy" and "Tesla" are photographed during flight. By projecting a pattern onto the upper and lower wings, the owl's position in space as well as its wing surface can be recorded by video technology. At the computer the scientists later attribute various picture elements and thereby calculate the shape of the wing surface. This helps the researchers to understand the sequences of movement. The results of this joint project by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the RWTH Aachen university and the University of the Federal Armed Forces are not only intended to help calculate the air flow around the wing and thus increase our understanding of bird flight, but also are to be included in modern aviation research. "However, the results are not to be applied to an A380 aircraft, which bears no comparison whatsoever to the flight behaviour of an owl. The research results are to be used in smaller, unmanned flying objects, so-called UAVs", explains Prof. Dr Andreas Dillmann, Head of the DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology.
