Autonomous drone charging stations: A survey
Christos Mourgelas, Sokratis Kokkinos, A. Milidonis, Ioannis Voyiatzis
Abstract
In modern and rapidly evolving society, as you drones are not only a means of entertainment but also a tool that we use in a variety of applications, such as precision farming, aerial photography and video, mapping, parcel transportations, search and rescue and in many other applications. In order for these applications to be successful, drones must constantly evolve, in terms of the autonomy of their flights, but also in the management of the energy they consume, in order to be able to travel long distances. Electric drones mostly use lithium polymer batteries (LiPo) for their power supply and their flight time depends on their battery capacity and is directly affected by its weight and ranges from 5 to 45 minutes with a full charge of its batteries. According to these time constraints the distances at which a drone can operate autonomously is narrow. In recent years, scientists, research teams and universities have developed drone charging systems that do not require human intervention. This paper presents a survey of drone charging stations that can be used in a variety of applications. The survey covers charging stations that use wired and wireless power transfer (WPT) methods, and compares their main elements and features.