Abstract: It is an effective way to mimic the movement of the flapping wings to enhance the thrust-to-power ratio of the air vehicles.But traditional flapping-wing air vehicles should be working under relatively high frequencies to overcome their gravities.It has been a lasting problem to be solved for the model of flapping-wing air vehicles grows in size.In order to solve this problem, the design and experiment of a new type of propulsion technology is described in this paper, which is inspired by the motion feature of the bird’s flapping wing.The principle of the propulsion and movement of the modular umbrella-like wings was first developed, and the mechanism used to implement the movement of the modular wings was subsequently designed according to the principle.A structural model and the assembly relationship of the propulsion mechanism were developed for prototype fabrication.The parameters of the propulsion mechanism were confirmed based on the assembly relationships.Then a test bed was made to test the aerodynamics of the wing and propulsion performance of the prototype.This test measured the instantaneous thrust and aerodynamic forces, the velocity of the wings, the rotational speed of the motor and the driving power usage in hovering flight.Different input powers were tested to compare their dynamic performance.Finally, the results of the tests for different extends of wings reciprocating at different frequencies were analyzed to study the performance of the umbrella-like wings.The results indicated that this type of propulsion can provide an efficient propelling force by oscillating modular umbrella-like wings symmetrically in counter phase at relative low frequencies; e.g., the thrust generated by the propulsion mechanism was 6.2 N for a constant extend of 0.50 m and a frequency of 1.76 Hz.The thrust increased as the frequency increased within a certain range.Umbrella-like wing generated an upward aerodynamic force when it was moving downwards.The wing generated less negative lift force than that traditional flapping wing generates when it was moving upwards.Either increasing the extent or improving the speed can enhance the aerodynamic force generated by the umbrella-like wing.The average aerodynamic force increased to 57.6% as the extend of the wing was increased from 0.50 m to 0.65 m for a moving speed of 2.10 m/s, and it increased to 60.4% as the moving speed was increased from 2.07 m/s to 2.53 m/s for a constant extend of 0.65 m.The thrust-to-power ratio of the propulsion mechanism ranged from 0.01 N/W to 0.04 N/W, it was larger than the experimental results of flexible wing of traditional flapping wing vehicles that ranged from -0.02 N/W to 0.01 N/W.The propulsion mechanism would obtain a better performance for larger wings.The thrust-to-power ratio increased to double as the extend of the wing was increased from 0.50 m to 0.65 m for an oscillating frequency of 0.95 Hz.Our research showed an efficient method to solve the problem of traditional propulsion which should flap wings at relatively high frequencies, and we can apply this new type of technology to the area of large-sized ornithopter.This work provides practical guidance for optimizing the structure design.