ICARE

The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) market is currently experiencing strong growth with the recent advances in high-performance technologies (high-density energy storage, lightweight materials with high mechanical strength, etc.). It is therefore possible to consider a commercial exploitation for these drones with, in perspective, a significant number of applications ensured today by expensive and polluting technologies, such as surveillance satellites or traditional aircraft (planes, helicopters, ...). With this in mind, XSun, located in Guérande (Loire Atlantique), has been designing and producing drones capable of carrying out long-duration missions since 2016, mainly thanks to solar energy, for a whole class of missions involving land or sea surveillance, precision farming, etc. XSun is determined to offer drones with ultimate performance, in order to maintain its leadership in a highly competitive sector. This implies the use of disruptive technologies. The objective of this LabCom between XSun and the IREENA laboratory is to provide a framework for the development of scientific tools and operational solutions. The issues that we wish to address in the LabCom project focuses mainly on the energy optimization of the drone, which will integrate a solar / hydrogen hybridization and vertical takeoff, coupled with the optimization of the control of the actuators based on mission profiles. To reach these objectives, several locks must be lifted. First, it is necessary to establish a formulation of the system dimensioning problem that integrates the piloting and energy management strategies, which must take into account the feedback effects towards the aerodynamic performance of the UAV, due to the influence of the masses, the flight profile and the constraints of the "onboard" loads. Secondly, the continuous emergence of new technological solutions implies a great flexibility of the proposed tools. This flexibility concerns the capacity to integrate the specificities and energy characteristics of these new solutions, but also their various interactions with the other components of the energy system and their potential operating constraints (thermal constraints, dynamic operating limits, etc.). Finally, all the optimization actions, as well at the level of energy management as mission profiles and flight actuators control, implies a perfect knowledge of the aerodynamic characteristics of the UAV. However, in its design phase, this knowledge remains relatively weak. One solution to overcome this problem is to develop a HIL (Hardware In the Loop) approach, in particular by developing an aerodynamic emulation platform, coupled with the actuator autopilot system and the energy system in order to verify the performance of the proposed control laws.