Airborne wind energy (AWE) systems use tethered aircraft to harness high-altitude winds, offering a cost-effective alternative to wind turbines. This study develops and tests an emulator that replicates AWE power generation, optimizing energy conversion with advanced control techniques. Our results improve system efficiency and reliability, supporting AWE’s commercialization as a scalable, sustainable energy source with lower infrastructure demands.

The optimal control problem for the flight trajectories of Fly-Gen AWESs is expressed with a novel methodology in the frequency domain through a harmonic balance formulation. The solution gives the optimal trajectory and the optimal control inputs. Optimal trajectories have a circular shape squashed along the vertical direction, and the optimal control inputs can be modeled with only one or two harmonics. Analytical approximations for optimal trajectory characteristics are also given.