The continuos grow of drone technologies and their applications, makes it crucial to have a better
understanding of their power sources and their power consumption. LiPo batteries, one of the main
subjects of this project, are the most popular power sources for drones and many other electrical
devices. First step of the project was to get familiar with some the terms and technology involved.
Some research was made in other to comprehend lithium ion technology and most importantly to
understand what makes LiPO batteries so popular.
The main part of the project consisted of calculating and developing a mathematical model,
which can be use to represent a LiPO battery. For the calculation, it was necessary to make multiple
controlled experiments with some LiPO batteries. The data recover from the experiment was
analyze and use to find the parameters needed for the numerical model of the batteries. Once the
parameters needed were found, the model was put to test, using some telemetry data obtained from
flight tests.
A number of flights were conducted in two different sessions. For the first set of flights, telemetry
data simulating actual working conditions was obtained. These flight simulated applications
such as precise agriculture and transmission tower inspections. For the second set of flights, four
flights were conducted. Two of those flights were very important, since they were done using the
same batteries as the ones used to calculated the numerical models. For these flights, one was conducted
using a payload of about 1100 grams. Telemetry and videos taken from flights were used to
see the effect of certain maneuvers on power consumption.
