Advances in Solar-Powered Aircraft Design and Control

Dear Colleagues,

Solar-powered aircraft have become a hot research spot due to the growing demand for low-carbon, sustainable aviation solutions. The development of solar-powered aircraft is promising, with the advantages of low vibration, no pollution and no emissions. To realize the prospects of solar-powered aircraft, multidisciplinary collaborations of aerodynamics, material science, control technologies, renewable energy systems, and other experts are critical. This Special Issue, while receiving ongoing work in these areas, also encourages innovative solutions and ideas. The design technology focuses on lightweight construction and aerodynamics, with innovative layout designs and the use of composite materials that can reduce weight and increase wing load. The optimal design of the subsystems is also welcomed, including advances in solar cell technology, energy storage and management systems. In addition, flight control and autonomous navigation techniques are key aspects to improve the adaptability of solar-powered aircraft. Moreover, complementary technologies represented by flight environment perception, weather forecasting and human–computer interaction are considered. The mentioned research propositions are only used to cast a brick to attract jade. We invite papers in this field to help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality in aircraft through the academic and engineering exchanges of fundamental, applied, and potential innovations of solar-powered aircraft design and control.

This Special Issue publishes papers related to advanced research in Solar-Powered Aircraft Design and Control with detailed examples as follows:

• Demonstration of design requirements: visionary requirement analysis for solar-powered aircraft. Potential application scenarios, payloads, and flight envelopes are also of discussion value.
• Application prospect: capabilities of the solar-powered aircraft to complement the existing modes of transportation.
• Layout design: advanced aircraft configurations to minimize weight and increase efficiency. For instance, structure-function integrated design and variant layout integrated design technology. Layout improvements should be reasonable and supported by detailed analysis processes.
• Structure design: structural optimization of the solar-powered aircraft, including but not limited to the application of advanced lightweight materials with light weight and high strength. Performance evaluations of schemes with composites represented by carbon fibers are encouraged.
• Aerodynamics: explore novel wing and body configurations to reduce drag and increase lift. Improvements based on the traditional scheme of wings with a high aspect ratio are also feasible. In addition to simulation analysis, prototype test verification is welcomed.
• Propulsion system: develop lightweight propellers with high efficiency. Investigate distributed and other innovative propulsion systems.
• High-efficiency motors: develop novel and energy-saving motors. Improve the matching efficiency of the thrust system. Investigate the thermal management and reliable operation of motors.
• Control technologies: high-efficiency control algorithms and hardware that are adaptive to complicated flight conditions.
• Autonomous flight: efficient trajectory planning. Real-time flight decision making according to the collected flight information.
• Stability: the ability of the solar-powered aircraft to automatically recover to the original equilibrium state without control after the disturbance disappears in the flight process.
• Aeroelasticity and gust mitigation: nonlinear aeroelastic solution under large geometric deformations. Passive and active gust mitigation control systems.
• Health monitoring and fault detection: develop the specific method for intelligent fault diagnostics, fault analysis, and monitoring of solar-powered aircraft.
• Network control: networking cooperation of solar-powered aircraft with other space, aerial and ground vehicles.
• Digital twin: reduce the probability of actual errors by mapping the physical solar-powered aircraft with high accuracy. Shorten the procedure of trial and error. Increase the life of the flight and decrease the operation cost.
• Large model: develop large models applicable for solar-powered aircraft to complete multi-scenario tasks with little or no fine-tuning.
• Application of Artificial Intelligence: Other aspects of solar-powered aircraft design and control that can be aided by Artificial Intelligence to improve performance.
• High-efficiency solar cell technology: improve the power supply capacity by integrating advanced solar cells with high conversion efficiency, including but not limited to perovskite solar cells, multi-junction solar cells and organic photovoltaics.
• Solar modules layout optimization: maximize the power ability of solar modules and reduce the adverse impact on weight, flexibility, and aerodynamic performance. Investigate thin-film, flexible solar modules and novel integration of solar cells with the aircraft structure.
• Solar modules control strategy: distributed topology of the solar array, advanced algorithms in maximum power point tracking, dynamic reconfiguration and other sophisticated technologies.
• Energy storage: prospects of high-energy-density batteries suitable for aviation applications. Improve the power-to-weight ratio and energy-to-weight ratio of storage. Explore the improvements made to Lithium ion batteries and the application of fuel cell systems on solar-powered aircraft. Develop multiple energy sources that can complement each other to provide a more reliable and continuous power supply.
• Energy Management: develop advanced energy management systems to balance energy production, consumption, and storage. Implement real-time optimization algorithms to improve the efficiency of energy utilization. Improve thermal management performance, including the heat dissipation of the power supply and insulation of the payload.
• Reliable flight: redundant design and evaluation method considering long-time reliable flights.
• Weather prediction: high-resolution wind field forecasts for the safe operation of solar-powered aircraft at various altitudes. Solar radiation intensity prediction to ensure capabilities at low altitudes.
• Environmentally friendly design: achieve zero emissions and low noise. Minimize pollution generated during aircraft manufacturing.
• Economics and market outlook: reduce the potential costs of manufacture, operation and maintenance. Accelerate the process of solar-powered aircraft from concept to prototype to market.

This Special Issue welcomes abstracts, full-length articles, and review articles of original research on solar-powered aircraft design and control. The articles should be written in good English. The methods and concepts should be original and positive for promoting the development of solar-powered aircraft. Comparison with other methods and practices should be reasonable. In addition to the research topics listed above, other multidisciplinary cross-related studies, including mechanical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, meteorology, and the environment, are also welcome to make solar-powered aircraft feasible and sustainable.

Dr. Kangwen Sun
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• requirement analysis
• overall design
• aerodynamics
• structural optimization
• propulsion system
• flight control
• autonomous navigation
• energy management
• artificial intelligence