TY - CHAP

T1 - Tension/Length-Controlled Winch System for Tethered UAVs*

AU - Guscott, Tyler

AU - Welgemoed, Jacques

AU - Van Niekerk, Theo

AU - Mercorelli, Paolo

AU - Mpurwana, Kabelo

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 IEEE.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are limited by battery capacity, typically allowing less than 30 minutes of flight time. Tethered UAVs address this limitation by providing continuous power through a cable connected to a ground station, but require sophisticated tether management to prevent excessive slack or tension. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a tension and length-controlled winch system for tethered UAVs. The system integrates a motorized winch with a guide mechanism for uniform winding, a load cell-based tension measurement system, angle sensor at the tether's base, and a catenary-based position estimation algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that a PI controller successfully maintains tether tension at the 1.96N setpoint under both static and dynamic conditions. The position estimation system achieves average errors of 0.97m, 0.48m, and 0.6m in the x, y, and z directions respectively, comparable to similar approaches in literature. The complete system operates within a compact frame, powered by a 24V supply, and manages tether lengths up to 10m. This work provides a proof-of-concept for tether management systems that enable extended UAV flight times while maintaining stable operation and preventing unsafe tether conditions.

AB - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are limited by battery capacity, typically allowing less than 30 minutes of flight time. Tethered UAVs address this limitation by providing continuous power through a cable connected to a ground station, but require sophisticated tether management to prevent excessive slack or tension. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a tension and length-controlled winch system for tethered UAVs. The system integrates a motorized winch with a guide mechanism for uniform winding, a load cell-based tension measurement system, angle sensor at the tether's base, and a catenary-based position estimation algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that a PI controller successfully maintains tether tension at the 1.96N setpoint under both static and dynamic conditions. The position estimation system achieves average errors of 0.97m, 0.48m, and 0.6m in the x, y, and z directions respectively, comparable to similar approaches in literature. The complete system operates within a compact frame, powered by a 24V supply, and manages tether lengths up to 10m. This work provides a proof-of-concept for tether management systems that enable extended UAV flight times while maintaining stable operation and preventing unsafe tether conditions.

KW - Engineering

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105018184767&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/ECMR65884.2025.11163083

DO - 10.1109/ECMR65884.2025.11163083

M3 - Article in conference proceedings

AN - SCOPUS:105018184767

SN - 979-8-3315-2706-8

T3 - European Conference on Mobile Robots

BT - 2025 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)

A2 - Gasteratos, Antonios

A2 - Bellotto, Nicola

A2 - Tortora, Stefano

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

CY - Piscataway

T2 - 12th European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2025

Y2 - 2 September 2025 through 5 September 2025

ER -