Numerical analysis of WoW sensor architecture for energy efficient e-VTOL systems

Abstract

The rapid development of electric Vertical Take off and Landing (e-VTOL) aircraft as a sustainable urban air mobility solution has highlighted the critical role of avionic systems in overall energy efficiency. Weight on Wheel (WoW) sensors responsible for detecting ground-air transition states directly influence power management decisions onboard e-VTOL. However, the energy consumption implications of varying WoW sensor architectures remain poorly understood, particularly under dynamic ground-air transition conditions. This paper presents a numerical simulation-based analysis of three WoW sensor architectures: single-threshold, redundant dual-channel, and sensor-fusion configurations, evaluating their performance in terms of detection accuracy, response latency, and onboard energy consumption. Simulations were conducted using a finite element numerical model replicating e-VTOL ground-air transition dynamics across 120 flight cycle scenarios. Results indicate that the sensor-fusion architecture achieved the highest detection accuracy at 98.7%, with a mean response latency of 12.3 ms, while reducing energy consumption by 23.7% compared to the redundant dual-channel configuration. The single-threshold architecture, although consuming the least power, demonstrated a detection error rate of 6.2%, rendering it unsuitable for safety-critical operations. These findings suggest that sensor-fusion architecture offers the optimal balance between reliability and energy efficiency for e-VTOL applications.