Energy Consumption in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Review of Energy Consumption Models and Their Relation to the UAV Routing

Abstract

The topic of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) routing is transitioning from an emerging topic to a growing research area with UAVs being used for inspection or even material transport as part of multi-modal networks. The nature of the problem has revealed a need to identify the factors affecting the energy consumption of UAVs during execution of missions and examine the general characteristics of the consumption, as these are critical constraining factors in UAV routing. This paper presents the unique characteristics that influence the energy consumption of UAV routing and the current state of research on the topic. This paper provides the first overview of the current state of and contributions to the area of energy consumption in UAVs followed by a general categorization of the factors affecting energy consumptions of UAVs.