Energy Monitoring System for Low-Cost UAVs Aerospace Engineering

122 Pages·2017·2.32 MB·English

by  Andre C. Marta

Energy Monitoring System for Low-Cost UAVs
Tiago Miguel Rasgado Baião
Thesis to obtain the Master of Science Degree in
Aerospace Engineering
Supervisor(s): Prof. André Calado Marta
Prof. Alexandra Bento Moutinho
Examination Committee
Chairperson: José Fernando Alves da Silva
Supervisor: Alexandra Bento Moutinho
Member of the Committee: Pedro Vieira Gamboa
May 2017
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Dedicatedtomyfamilyandfriends.
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Acknowledgments
First, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Andre´ Marta and Prof. Alexandra
Moutinhofortheirsupport,guidance,adviceandpatienceduringthislastyear. Alsoaspecialthanksto
Prof. Jose´ Azinheiraforhissupportandadvicedespitenotbeingdirectlyinvolvedinthisproject.
Secondly, but not less importantly, a special thanks to my family for their inconditional love and
supportnotonlyduringmyMaster’sDegree,butthroughoutmyentirelife.
Lastly,Iwouldliketothankallmycolleaguesandfriendsthathelpedmefindresourcesandbounce
ideas off during this work, in particular Nicole Cruz for providing me with books and other materials on
helicoptersandNunoSoaresforhisclarificationsonsomepropulsiontopics.
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Resumo
Nopresente,asaeronavesna˜otripuladas,particularmenteosmodelosdebaixocusto,carecemdesis-
temas de seguranc¸a intr´ınsecos apesar do crescente interesse do pu´blico civil por estas plataformas,
colocandoemriscooutrasaeronaves,pessoasepropriedade. Integradonumprojectomaisabrangente
que pretende lidar com problemas de seguranc¸a neste tipo de aeronaves, este trabalho pretende con-
tribuir para o aumento dos seus mecanismos de seguranc¸a propondo um sistema de monitorizac¸a˜o
de energia capaz de fornecer estimativas actualizadas do estado de energia final das fontes a bordo,
permitindoaooperadorperceberseamissa˜oplaneadapodesercompletadaemseguranc¸a,dadosos
seus requisitos energe´ticos e tendo em conta as condic¸o˜es ambientais tais como o vento e radiac¸a˜o
solar. A estimativa de energia restante permite uma melhor conscieˆncia energe´tica durante o planea-
mento de missa˜o e as actualizac¸o˜es em tempo real permitem ter em conta perturbac¸o˜es e manobras
evasivas inesperadas. O sistema proposto e´ validado qualitativamente e treˆs me´todos previamente
na˜o considerados na literatura sa˜o propostos para estimar a energia requerida para completar uma
dada missa˜o planeada, e o seu desempenho e´ avaliado utilizando software de simulac¸a˜o. Conclui-se
que os me´todos discutidos sa˜o bastante sens´ıveis a` qualidade dos dados e ferramentas de simulac¸a˜o
utilizados e aqueles dispon´ıveis seriam inadequados para simular um cena´rio real. Apesar de tudo,
fundamentosso´lidosparatrabalhosfuturossa˜oestabelecidos.
Palavras-chave:
Seguranc¸a de UAVs, Viabilidade de Missa˜o, Requisitos Energe´ticos de
Missa˜o,ModelosdeEstimac¸a˜odeEnergia,FontesdeEnergia,Integrac¸a˜odoSistema
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Abstract
Inthepresent,unmannedaerialvehicles,particularlylow-costmodels,lackintrinsicsafetysystemsde-
spiteincreasinginterestbythecivilianpublicfortheseplatforms,posingathreattootheraircraft,people
andproperty. Integratedinalargerprojectthataddressessafetyissuesforthistypeofaircraft,thiswork
aimstocontributetotheenhancementoftheirsafetyfeaturesbyproposinganenergymonitoringsystem
capableofprovidingupdatedestimatesofthefinalstateofenergyoftheonboardsources,enablingthe
operatortounderstandiftheplannedmissioncanbecompletedsafely,givenitsenergeticrequirements
and taking into account environmental conditions such as wind and solar radiation. The remaining en-
ergyestimateenablesbetterenergyawarenessduringmissionplanningandtheonlineupdatesallowto
accountforunexpecteddisturbancesandobstacleavoidance. Theproposedenergymonitoringsystem
is qualitatively validated and three methods not previously considered in the literature are proposed to
estimate the required energy to complete a given planned mission, and their performance is evaluated
using simulation software. It is concluded that the methods discussed are very sensitive to the quality
of the data and simulation tools used and those available would be inadequate for simulating a real
scenario. Nonetheless,solidfoundationsforfutureworkareestablished.
Keywords:
UAV Safety, Mission Feasibility, Mission Energy Requirements, Energy Estimation
Models,EnergySources,SystemIntegration
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