Quadrotors with Slung Payloads: Energy Analysis and Experimental Validation

Abstract

This paper analyzes the energy consumption of quadrotors with slung payloads. First, it develops novel expressions for the power and energy consumption for a quadrotor with a slung payload flying in 3D. These expressions are called the power and energy quotients, which are directly proportional to the actual power and energy consumption. However, they do not require any prior knowledge of the motor and propeller parameters. Second, a comprehensive energy investigation is conducted to find the effect of polynomial trajectories, cable length, arbitrary kinematic boundary conditions, and number of waypoints on the energy consumption. This analysis has been conducted via two different Monte Carlo simulations. The results showed that increasing the degree of the polynomial trajectory increases the energy consumption and there is an optimal cable length, at which, the energy consumption is minimal. These results are valid regardless of the kinematic boundary conditions, which implies that these results are valid regardless of the number of waypoints. All results have been validated experimentally.