Drones and UAVs Energy Management Progress and Challenges

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Electronics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2021) | Viewed by 7957

Special Issue Editors

Department of Energy and Electrical Systems, ISEN Yncréa Ouest, 29200 Brest, France
Interests: PM machines; power electronics; renewable energy systems; energy storages
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, LE, Italy
Interests: fluid machinery; energy systems; power generation; automotive and aircraft
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (UMR CNRS 6027 IRDL), University of Brest, 29238 Brest, France
Interests: fault detection and diagnosis; failure prognosis; cyberattack detection; fault-resilient control; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The implementation of energy storages and renewable energies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, also called drones) could be essential for guaranteeing flight durations under specific weight/volume constraints. When multiple power supply sources are installed in a drone, the variability of the operation conditions means the energy management and the power distribution strategies should match the characteristics of each power supply sources. To address these issues, some special design considerations should be adopted to combine different power sources (battery, fuel cell, supercapacitor, flywheel, etc.) and advanced energy management strategies (EMS) in the most efficient and effective way. Depending on the specific load power profile, different EMS can be considered to increase the overall performances of the drone system. The optimization design of hybrid systems with smart EMS shall increase not only the autonomy of the drone but also the service life for each power sources installed onboard. These EMS will be realized through the power electronics associated with different power sources. Moreover, to optimally control the energy flow among the different sources even under faulty conditions (for example, loss of one power source), some fault-tolerant control strategies can be considered to insure smooth operation of the drone.

In this context, this Special Issue aims to be an open platform to share knowledge about drones and UAVs energy management progress and challenges. It particularly seeks original contributions regarding ideas, recent developments, or matured studies addressing both theoretical and experimental aspects.

Dr. Zhibin Zhou
Dr. Teresa Donateo
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Benbouzid
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • unmanned aerial vehicle
  • drone
  • battery
  • fuel cell
  • hybrid energy storage
  • multi-source power systems
  • energy management strategy
  • power electronics

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 56971 KiB  
Article
Exploiting Solar Energy during an Aerial Mapping Mission on a Lightweight UAV
by Dejan Hrovatin and Andrej Žemva
Electronics 2021, 10(22), 2876; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10222876 - 22 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2252
Abstract
In this study, we present options for extending the endurance of a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), along with their advantages and disadvantages. We present a developed solution based on the use of gallium–arsenide (GaAs) solar modules installed on a UAV and connected [...] Read more.
In this study, we present options for extending the endurance of a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), along with their advantages and disadvantages. We present a developed solution based on the use of gallium–arsenide (GaAs) solar modules installed on a UAV and connected to a custom-made maximum power point tracker (MPPT) with an integrated perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm. The mathematical behavior required to calculate the electrical energy production from solar energy on the UAV from known UAV angles of rotation, the position of the sun in the sky, solar irradiance measurements, the solar module area and the solar modules efficiency is presented. A comparison of the calculated and actual measured electrical energy production results during an aerial mapping mission is presented. We perform a number of aerial mapping mission flights and the experimental results confirm an energy efficiency value of more than 96.27% for the MPPT and extended flight endurance by up to 21.25%. In addition, onboard measurements and other data captured during flights confirm the proposed electrical energy production calculation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drones and UAVs Energy Management Progress and Challenges)
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 4559 KiB  
Article
A Survey of Electromagnetic Influence on UAVs from an EHV Power Converter Stations and Possible Countermeasures
by Yanchu Li, Qingqing Ding, Keyue Li, Stanimir Valtchev, Shufang Li and Liang Yin
Electronics 2021, 10(6), 701; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060701 - 17 Mar 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3946
Abstract
It is inevitable that high-intensity, wide-spectrum electromagnetic emissions are generated by the power electronic equipment of the Extra High Voltage (EHV) power converter station. The surveillance flight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is thus, situated in a complex electromagnetic environment. The ubiquitous electromagnetic [...] Read more.
It is inevitable that high-intensity, wide-spectrum electromagnetic emissions are generated by the power electronic equipment of the Extra High Voltage (EHV) power converter station. The surveillance flight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is thus, situated in a complex electromagnetic environment. The ubiquitous electromagnetic interference demands higher electromagnetic protection requirements from the UAV construction and operation. This article is related to the UAVs patrol inspections of the power line in the vicinity of the EHV converter station. The article analyzes the electromagnetic interference characteristics of the converter station equipment in the surrounding space and the impact of the electromagnetic emission on the communication circuits of the UAV. The anti-electromagnetic interference countermeasures strive to eliminate or reduce the threats of electromagnetic emissions on the UAV’s hardware and its communication network. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drones and UAVs Energy Management Progress and Challenges)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop