Power Management Unit for Tethered Drone

Abstract

This article focuses on problem solving and development of a Power Management Unit (PMU) in a large Tethered Drone system. Electrical source located on the ground is transmitted through a lightweight power cable to the drone, which is intentionally retained in the air and perform the work at all time. This can be applied to a variety of applications such as using as a communication point that can be installed quickly or using for aerial photography in areas of emergency situations etc. Since PMU systems in the market are rather expensive and not fully support all requirements from the user, this prototype is then developed for real application. In this work, the power required to lift off the drone with a total weight of 20 kilograms and various onboard payloads is at least 4KW. The scope consists of the design and development of PMU for energy management system in a large tethered drone. Generally, it is divided into 2 systems. The first is the ground power management unit called PMU-Ground, which is on the ground, acting as a power source of the drone. The second is the airborne power management unit, called PMU-Air, which is on the drone. It is used to manage the energy of the drone's devices. Users can monitor voltages and currents as well as control switches for various payloads from the ground using Internet of Things (IoTs) technology.