Drone endurance in hydrogen fuel cell hybrid technologies: Power architectures and design strategies
Abstract
This study delivers an exhaustive exploration of novel and hybrid power systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) aimed at improving endurance, efficiency, and mission performance. In the wake of increasing requirements for long-endurance and high-performance UAVs, traditional battery systems are limited by their energy density and lifetime. To overcome this, the research compares four primary power sources: hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-based batteries, photovoltaic cells, and supercapacitors, with a focus on their hybrid architecture integration. The originality of this research is in the relative comparison of these power sources in multi-mode UAV operations, with an emphasis on their performance, energy management approaches, and trade-offs under real-flight conditions. Key contributions include UAV energy requirement categorization, conceptual designs for long endurance and high-altitude missions, and a hybrid power system integration roadmap. The results enable the innovation of next-generation UAVs to achieve extended duration of flight, higher payload capacity, and power-efficient flight.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Volume
225
Publication Title
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Science
RAS ID
88202
Funders
Tenaga Nasional Berhad / Universiti Tenaga Nasional (J510050002-IC-6 BOLDREFRESH2025)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Tak, Y. C., Abedin, T., Paw, J. K. S., Pasupuleti, J., Ding, T. J., Kiong, T. S., Kadirgama, K., Benedict, F., & Nur-E-Alam, M. (2025). Drone endurance in hydrogen fuel cell hybrid technologies: Power architectures and design strategies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 225, 116161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116161