Wind Estimation in Urban Air Mobility Operations via Power Monitoring and Sensor Fusion

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) introduces significant new challenges due to atmospheric boundary layer and wake interactions in low-altitude environments. The wind field inhomogeneity due to these phenomena can result in hazardous flight upsets due to the asymmetric thrust and aerodynamic loads induced on the UAM vehicle. To support the study of these risks and the required advances in Flight Control System (FCS) design for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) platforms, this paper presents an innovative technique to estimate the local wind field characteristics based on measurements of power drain from the distributed electric VTOL motors equipped with Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC). By fusing these measurements with rotor speed (RPM) sensors experienced by the UAM vehicle propellers, the technique allows to estimate the wind velocity components affecting each rotor and thus the asymmetric load affecting the vehicle. A simulation case study in a representative UAM flow field verifies the validity of the proposed approach and allows us to estimate its performance in these realistic conditions.