Extending the Lifetime of Nano-Blimps via Dynamic Motor Control

Abstract

Nano-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), e.g. quadcopters, have received significant attention in recent years. Although their capabilities have grown, they continue to have very limited flight times, tens of minutes at most. The main constraints are the battery's energy density and the engine power required for flight. In this work, we present a nano-sized blimp platform, consisting of a helium balloon and a rotorcraft. Thanks to the lift provided by helium, the blimp requires relatively little energy to remain at a stable altitude. This lift, however, decreases with time as the balloon inevitably deflates requiring additional control mechanisms to keep the desired altitude. We study how This work has been funded by projects EC H2020 HERCULES (688860), Nano-Tera.ch YINS, and Transient Computing Systems (SNF grant 157048).

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