A Mission-Oriented Flight Path and Charging Mechanism for Internet of Drones

In addition to traditional battery exchange services and stationary charging stations, researchers have proposed wireless charging technology, such as decentralized laser charging or drone-to-drone charging in flight, to provide power to drones with insufficient battery electricity. However, the charging methods presented in the literature will inevitably cause drones to wait in line for charging during peak hours and disrupt their scheduled trips when the number of drones grows rapidly in the future. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no integrated solutions for drone flight path and charging planning to alleviate charging congestion, taking into account the different mission characteristics of drones and the charging cost considerations of drone operators. Accordingly, this paper provides adaptive charging options to help drone operators to solve the above-mentioned problems. Drones on ordinary missions can use conventional battery swap services, wired charging stations, or electromagnetic wireless charging stations to recharge their batteries as usual, whereas drones on time-critical missions can choose drone-to-drone wireless charging or decentralized laser charging deployed along the fight paths to charge the batteries of drones in flight. Notably, since fixed-wing drones have larger wing areas to install solar panels, they can also use solar energy to charge during flight if the weather is clear. The simulation results exhibited that the proposed work reduced the power load of the power grid during peak hours, met the charging needs of each individual drone during flight, and cut down the charging costs of drone operators. As a result, an all-win situation for drone operators, drone customers, and power grid operators was achieved.