Energy Optimal Traversal Between Hover Waypoints for Lift+Cruise Electric Powered Aircraft

TL;DR

This paper develops energy-optimal flight trajectories for Lift+Cruise eVTOL aircraft, considering mode transitions, wind effects, and experimental validation, to improve energy efficiency in urban air mobility.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for defining energy-optimal trajectories with mode transitions and validates it experimentally on a QuadPlane eVTOL.

Findings

Optimal traversal saves 71% energy compared to vertical flight.

Wind and acceleration constraints are critical for feasible straight-line paths.

Energy consumption is effectively modeled as a function of airspeed across modes.

Abstract

Advanced Air Mobility aircraft require energy efficient flight plans to be economically viable. This paper defines minimum energy direct trajectories between waypoints for Lift+Cruise electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Energy consumption is optimized over accelerated and cruise flight profiles with consideration of mode transitions. Because eVTOL operations start and end in hover for vertical take-off and landing, hover waypoints are utilized. Energy consumption is modeled as a function of airspeed for each flight mode, providing the basis to prove energy optimality for multi-mode traversal. Wind magnitude and direction dictate feasibility of straight-line traversal because Lift+Cruise aircraft point into the relative wind direction while hovering but also have a maximum heading rate constraint. Energy and power use for an experimentally validated QuadPlane small eVTOL aircraft are characterized with respect to airspeed and acceleration in all flight modes. Optimal QuadPlane traversals are presented. Constraints on acceleration and wind are derived for straight-line QuadPlane traversal. Results show an optimal QuadPlane $500m$ traversal between hover waypoints saves $71\%$ energy compared to pure vertical flight traversal for a representative case study with a direct $4m/s$ crosswind. Energy optimal eVTOL direct trajectory definition with transitions to and from hover is novel to this work. Future work should model three-dimensional flight and wind as well as optimize maneuver primitives when required.