Control System Design for Hybrid Power Supply of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based on Linearized Averaged Process Models

The paper presents the hybrid propulsion control system design for a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with internal combustion engine (ICE) and generator as a primary energy source and direct-current (DC) power system with DC/DC buck converters controlling the input voltage of propeller electrical drives. Control system design is based on averaged linearized process models of the engine-generator set and buck converter, and utilization of damping optimum criterion, with control systems featuring proportional-integral (PI) feedback controllers augmented with feed-forward load compensators. The overall control system is validated by means of simulations within Matlab/Simulink environment.