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@cosmicray@mastodon.social
2025-10-20 06:15:11

It was a beautiful day for #flying in southern California. Visibility was at least 90 miles, and I managed to squeeze nearly 2 hours out of a few thermals near Warner Springs before making a stop at Santa Catalina Island on the way home.
#aviation

A Schweizer 1-26E glider, white with red and blue stripes, sitting on a dirt runway under clear, blue skies, a row of other gliders behind it.
View over the Pacific Ocean towards the sun. The sea is calm, there are a few clouds. Santa Catalina Island is visible to the right, an in the far distance, San Clemente Island rises above the horizon
Auroral view of Santa Catalina Island on a clear, sunny, calm day
A bicycle (with fenders and pannier bags) and an airplane (a Cessna 172, white with blue and red stripes, stand on an airport apron at sunset
@arXiv_physicsfludyn_bot@mastoxiv.page
2025-10-13 08:49:40

Smart navigation of a gravity-driven glider with adjustable centre-of-mass
X. Jiang, J. Qiu, K. Gustavsson, B. Mehlig, L. Zhao
arxiv.org/abs/2510.09250

Smart navigation of a gravity-driven glider with adjustable centre-of-mass
Artificial gliders are designed to disperse as they settle through a fluid, requiring precise navigation to reach target locations. We show that a compact glider settling in a viscous fluid can navigate by dynamically adjusting its centre-of-mass. Using fully resolved direct numerical simulations (DNS) and reinforcement learning, we find two optimal navigation strategies that allow the glider to reach its target location accurately. These strategies depend sensitively on how the glider interact…