Bioinspired Energy Harvesting from Atmospheric Phenomena for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

摘要

This Paper discusses energy harvesting from atmospheric phenomena for small unmanned aerial vehicles,theoretically through simulations and practically through experimental flights. A comparison between differentscenarios for flight within the sinusoidal wind profile is presented. A significant improvement in performance withactive control of command surfaces has been found for an energy-harvesting mode when compared toautostabilization or fixed-stick flight. Moreover, a detailed decomposition of the stochastic wind profile generatedfrom the Kaimal spectrum has shown which frequencies and magnitudes of wind time series have the highestcontribution to the energy-transfer process. It is found that wind profiles with higher turbulence intensitypotentially provide more energy for transfer to the aircraft. Furthermore, the Paper reveals a biologically inspiredsensory system for wind field estimation. It describes the necessary equipment and control algorithms for theexploitation of atmospheric energy. Initial flight tests were performed to determine the average powerconsumption of the motor for altitude hold tasks and to evaluate the performance of sensors. Moreover, additionalflights for autonomous exploitation of several atmospheric phenomena are presented and analyzed.