Enhancing safety for autonomous VTOL drone deliveries through range, flight time, and battery predictions

Thumbnail Image

Files

master_Ciresa_Simone_2025.pdf (1.19 MB)

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Electrical Engineering | Master's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2025-03-18

Department

Major/Subject

Autonomous Systems

Mcode

Degree programme

Master's Programme in ICT Innovation

Language

en

Pages

89

Series

Abstract

Accurate range and battery consumption estimation are critical to the safe and efficient flight of autonomous VTOL UAVs, particularly in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. This thesis presents a data-driven approach to computing Estimated Battery at Landing (EBL) and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), meeting the need for accurate pre-flight planning and dynamic adjustment during drone deliveries. The Range Estimator suggestedwas integrated with RigiTech’s centralized platform (RigiCloud) and onboard systems so that ongoing adjustment to estimation could be done from real-time flight data. The model was subsequently trained on historical flight logs to identify patterns of consumption by payload and mission parameters. Realworld testing demonstrated that although there was variability in energy consumption among various flights, the system is extremely accurate at estimating both battery usage and flight time. The findings show that the utilization of historical flight data is adequate for building a comprehensive consumption model, although additional refinements can enhance its ability to handle diverse environmental and hardware conditions. Future research will involve integrating real-time meteorological data, enhancing battery degradation modelling, and allowing more autonomous decision-making. This study adds to the enhancement of safety and reliability in UAV delivery, especially in critical applications such as medical logistics.

Description

Supervisor

Zhou, Quan

Thesis advisor

Stabuer, Thomas

Keywords

UAV, VTOL, range estimation, consumption modelling, ETA, drone deliveries

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202505193792

Collections

[dipl] Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu / ELEC