Energy conservation of V-shaped swarming fixed-wing drones through position reconfiguration

There is currently a growing interest in the area of drag reduction of unmanned aerial vehicles. In this paper, the swarming flight of the fixed-wing drones and a load balancing mechanism during the swarm is investigated. As an example, the swarm flight of EBee Sensfly flying wings is analyzed through the proposed methodology. The aerodynamic drag forces of each individual drone and the swarm are modeled theoretically. It is shown that drones through the swarming flight can save up to 70% of their energy and consequently improve their performance. As swarming drones have different loads and consume a different level of energy depending on their positions, there is a need to replace them during the flight in order to enhance their efficiency. To this end, regarding the number of drones, a replacement algorithm is defined for them so that they will be able to save more energy during their mission. It is shown that there is more than 21 percent improvement in flight time and distance of swarming drones after replacement. This method of replacement and formation can be considered as one of the effective factors in a drag reduction of swarming aerial vehicles. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.