Abstract
Interest in electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has grown rapidly in recent years, and their applications have expanded and diversified considerably since they first appeared, for both commercial and private purposes. Thanks to their ability to perform challenging and hazardous tasks with high mobility, safety, and low cost. As academic researchers, we are concerned with commercial multi-rotor UAVs, which are revolutionizing many public services, including search and rescue operations, wireless coverage, delivery services, precision agriculture, wildlife surveys, and real-time surveillance. One of the UAVs main issues when it comes to mobility is the limited energy autonomy/endurance. Many types of power supplies can be implemented in UAVs, each with its specific strengths and shortfalls in terms of size, charging/discharging time, energy density and power density. This paper focuses on UAVs energy aspect, with a comprehensive review of the main power sources available for multi-rotors UAVs, and energy management systems to uncover gaps and provide further insights and guidelines for future research.
Highlights
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone is a flying robot, capable of operating autonomously or remotely to perform a specific mission [2]
- Low efficiency of power distribution - Energy sources shortened lifetime - Careful energy sources sizing is necessary to reliably share the DC bus Despite the large-scale applications of drones and their ongoing development, UAVs continue to suffer from a critical issue: their limited energy autonomy or endurance
It should be noted that the propulsion system is the most energy consuming element of the UAV platform, while the consumption of the embedded electronics remains negligible
Summary
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone is a flying robot, capable of operating autonomously or remotely to perform a specific mission [2]. A supercapacitor can contribute to the power supply process as well, as it offers a very high-power density and fast response to the peak power required for takeoffs and sudden manoeuvres of drones. Considering these elements, hybridisation of the power supply, by combining two or more energy sources, appears to be the most attractive option to ensure a high endurance for a UAVs. The choice of the power supply structure is crucial.
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