Drone endurance in hydrogen fuel cell hybrid technologies: Power architectures and design strategies

This study delivers an exhaustive exploration of novel and hybrid power systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) aimed at improving endurance, efficiency, and mission performance. In the wake of increasing requirements for long-endurance and high-performance UAVs, traditional battery systems are limited by their energy density and lifetime. To overcome this, the research compares four primary power sources: hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-based batteries, photovoltaic cells, and supercapacitors, with a focus on their hybrid architecture integration. The originality of this research is in the relative comparison of these power sources in multi-mode UAV operations, with an emphasis on their performance, energy management approaches, and trade-offs under real-flight conditions. Key contributions include UAV energy requirement categorization, conceptual designs for long endurance and high-altitude missions, and a hybrid power system integration roadmap. The results enable the innovation of next-generation UAVs to achieve extended duration of flight, higher payload capacity, and power-efficient flight.