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Author Background

Prof. Claudia Werner: Professor of Energy Storage System Integration at the Department of Energy and Biotechnology, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

Mika Suwe, B. Eng.: Student in the master's program “Systems Engineering” at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering and Maritime Technologies, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

Anna de Groot: Student in the bachelor's program “Energy Engineering” at the Department of Energy and Biotechnology, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

Martje Forner, B. Eng.: Student in the master's program “Systems Engineering” at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering and Maritime Technologies, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

Abstract

In this study, a model is developed for a comparative assessment of three flight missions of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on their power profiles in order to identify future technical research priorities and possible improvements in operational management. The model describes the missions (transport, facade inspection, drone show) based on the maneuver-specific parameters for hovering flight, vertical flight, and horizontal flight and calculates the respective power profiles of the missions based on the input parameters of a reference UAV with a battery-powered electric motor. The power profiles of the investigated missions show that the maximum powers occur during accelerated climb in each case. The greatest difference in maximum power occurs between the transport mission and the facade inspection. Considering the small difference in the respective payload, the significantly higher maximum power during the transport mission can mainly be attributed to the higher acceleration assumed for this mission. Consequently, the necessary power can be influenced by the choice of maximum acceleration. This also applies to the drone show, but the difference in power cannot only be linked to the acceleration since for the considered mission the mass differs significantly because no payload is needed. Concerning the different maneuvers, horizontal flight with constant flight speed has the largest time share and the largest energy requirement in all missions. Accordingly, this is where the greatest potential for energy savings is seen. It is shown that an ideal speed for minimizing the energy demand in horizontal flight results for each total mass.

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