The aerodynamic force platform as an ergometer

Animal flight requires aerodynamic power, which is challenging to determine accurately in vivo. Existing methods rely on approximate calculations based on wake flow field measurements, inverse dynamics approaches, or invasive muscle physiological recordings. In contrast, the external mechanical work required for terrestrial locomotion can be determined more directly by using a force platform as an ergometer. Based on an extension of the recent invention of the aerodynamic force platform, we now present a more direct method to determine the in vivo aerodynamic power by taking the dot product of the aerodynamic force vector on the wing with the representative wing velocity vector based on kinematics and morphology. We demonstrate this new method by studying a slowly flying dove, but it can be applied more generally across flying and swimming animals as well as animals that locomote over water surfaces. Finally, our mathematical framework also works for power analyses based on flow field measurements.

Methods
This dataset consists of the following collected data:

High speed camera data collected to calibrate 5 high speed cameras and 5 high speed projectors
High speed camera data (5 cameras + 5 projectors projecting structured-light patterns) collected of a single dove flight as described in the manuscript
Aerodynamic force platform data collected for the same single dove flight

This dataset consists of the following processing steps:

The calibration data has been processed to calibrate all 5 high speed cameras and projectors using the steps described in this paper: Deetjen ME, Lentink D. Automated calibration of multi-camera-projector structured light systems for volumetric high-speed 3D surface reconstructions. Opt Express. 2018;26(25):33278–304. 
The bird has been modeled using structured-light processing steps described in this paper: Deetjen ME, Biewener AA, Lentink D. High-speed surface reconstruction of a flying bird using structured light. J Exp Biol [Internet]. 2017 Jun 1;220(11):1956–61. Available from: http://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.149708.
The rest of the processing steps to compute aerodynamic power are described in the current publication.