On the trade-off between electrical power consumption and flight performance in fixed-wing UAV autopilots
This paper sets out a study of the autopilot design for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) taking into account the aircraft stability, as well as the power consumption as a function of the selected control strategy. To provide some generality to the outcomes of this study, construction of a...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2016 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/101278 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/101278 https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2016.2601927 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Flying machines Energy consumption Drone aircraft Aircraft systems Autopilots Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics Control systems Power consumption Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Aeronaus Energia -- Consum Avions no tripulats Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Aeronàutica i espai::Aeronaus Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica |
| Sumario: | This paper sets out a study of the autopilot design for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) taking into account the aircraft stability, as well as the power consumption as a function of the selected control strategy. To provide some generality to the outcomes of this study, construction of a reference small-UAV model, based on averaging the main aircraft defining parameters, is proposed. Using such a reference model of small, fixed-wing UAVs, different control strategies are assessed, especially with a view towards enlarging the controllers' sampling time. A beneficial consequence of this sample time enlargement is that the clock rate of the UAV autopilots may be proportionally reduced. This reduction in turn leads directly to decreased electrical power consumption. Such energy saving becomes proportionally relevant as the size and power of the UAV decrease, with benefits of lengthening battery life and, therefore, the flight endurance. Additionally, through the averaged model, which is derived from both published data and computations made from actual data captured from real UAVs, it is shown that behavior predictions beyond that of any particular UAV model may be extrapolated. |
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