Never landing drone: Autonomous soaring of a unmanned aerial vehicle in front of a moving obstacle

Increasing endurance is a major challenge for battery-powered aerial vehicles. A method presented which makes use of an updraft around obstacles to decrease the power consumption fixed-wing unmanned vehicle. soaring flight controller has been developed that can autonomously soar while vehicle keeps its relative position moving object. Multiple simulations have performed analyse limitations under different conditions. The effect change in wind velocity and analysed. showed increase decreases energy controller. An results higher requirement, requires less updraft. achieved sustained at 0% throttle. validated experimentally using generated by ship. practical, autonomous tests reduced average throttle down 4.5% front this study successful hovering control module longitudinal positioning.