Abstract
This paper proposes an Emergency Battery Service (EBS) for drones in which an EBS drone flies to a drone in the field with a depleted battery and transfers a fresh battery to the exhausted drone. The authors present a unique battery transfer mechanism and drone localization that uses the Cross Marker Position (CMP) method. The main challenges include a stable and balanced transfer that precisely localizes the receiver drone. The proposed EBS drone mitigates the effects of downwash due to the vertical proximity between the drones by implementing diagonal alignment with the receiver, reducing the distance to 0.5 m between the two drones. CFD analysis shows that diagonal instead of perpendicular alignment minimizes turbulence, and the authors verify the actual system for change in output airflow and thrust measurements. The CMP marker-based localization method enables position lock for the EBS drone with up to 0.9 cm accuracy. The performance of the transfer mechanism is validated experimentally by successful mid-air transfer in 5 seconds, where the EBS drone is within 0.5 m vertical distance from the receiver drone, wherein 4m/s turbulence does not affect the transfer process.
Abstract (translated)
本文提出了一种针对无人机的紧急电池服务（EBS）方案，其中EBS无人机会飞向场中的一架耗尽电池的无人机，并将其充满电的电池传输给耗尽电池的无人机。作者提出了一个独特的电池传输机制和无人机定位方法，利用交叉标记位置（CMP）方法。主要挑战包括稳定和平衡的传输，精确地将接收无人机的位置确定下来。所提出的EBS无人机通过将机身与接收机无人机对齐，减小垂直距离，从而减轻了俯冲效应。CFD分析表明，相对于垂直或平行对齐，横着对齐可以最小化湍流，并且作者验证了输出空气流和推力的变化。基于CMP标记的定位方法使得EBS无人机的定位精度可以达到0.9厘米。通过成功的中间空中转移5秒钟来验证传输机制的性能，其中EBS无人机距离接收机无人机约0.5米，而4米/秒的湍流并没有影响传输过程。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.16430
