Photos by Padraic Doherty, Kitepower, on 8 May 2024 at Bangor Erris.
For this specific test, the 60m² leading-edge inflatable V9 kite was flown under conservative operational settings. The primary focus of the test was data acquisition rather than maximizing energy production. As a result, the power output during the flight was significantly lower than that of standard Kitepower operations.
| Kite | Tether | KCU | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total wing area | 60 m² | Density | 724 kg/m³ | Diameter | 0.62 m |
| Projected wing area | 46.85 m² | Diameter | 14 mm | Length | 1.2 m |
| Total mass | 62 kg | Total mass | 31.6 kg |
This dataset captures flight data from the Kitepower V9 kite during a flight conducted on 5 June 2024. The recorded flight spans from 11:19 to 17:31 UTC, during which the kite completed a total of 145 pumping cycles.
Wind conditions were variable throughout the flight, with a sudden wind gust occurring around 13:40 UTC. The wind direction was also variable, predominantly coming from the east.
- Position, Orientation, Velocities, and Accelerations: Measured at both the kite’s central strut and the kite control unit (KCU) using Pixhawk IMU+GPS systems, capturing both translational and rotational velocities and accelerations.
- Tether elevation and azimuth: The orientation of the tether at the outlet of the ground station, measured using rotational encoders.
- Tether Force: Measured at the ground station using a load cell and an elevation angle encoder.
- Lidar Data: Provided at a 1-second resolution, acquired by a Windcube v2.
Data plotted for the 135th pumping cycle.
Flying kite casting its shadow on the paved area of the test center.
The contents of this repository are published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: the data can be used as long as attribution is made to this repository. Nevertheless, if you pursue a publication that uses the data we request you to:
- Stress that the test flight does not represent the state-of-the-art of Kitepower as (1) the system configuration was already dated at the time of the test and has gone through substantial development since then and (2) the test was focused on data acquisition rather than maximising energy production;
- Acknowledge Kitepower and include a link to https://thekitepower.com;
- Send the preprint including the data via email to publications@kitepower.nl;
- Allow Kitepower to post the preprint of the publication on kitepower.nl and/or Kitepower-related networks, if such public posting is in accordance with the agreement between author and publisher.
The acquired data is provided in csv-format. In the content description, we use the following abbreviations:
- NED: North-East-Down earth-fixed reference frame
- FRD: Forward-Right-Down body-fixed reference frame
- kite_0: Pixhawk unit 0 - Mounted on the central strut of the kite
- kite_1: Pixhawk unit 1 - Mounted on the kite control unit
- kite_3: Pixhawk unit 3 - Mounted on the central strut of the kite
The kite position data is derived from measurements taken by Pixhawk unit 0 and processed using the default Kalman filter implementation provided by Pixhawk.
The wind measurements were collected with a Leosphere WindCube v2 lidar. The system captures wind measurements at multiple heights (40 m to 250 m) at 1-second intervals, which are aggregated into 1-minute statistics in the dataset. These measurements include the mean, maximum, and minimum wind speeds, standard deviation of wind speeds, wind direction, vertical wind component (z-wind), Doppler spectrum broadening, Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (CNR), and data availability. Data are organized by height, with the height (e.g., 40 m, 60 m, etc.) indicated in the variable name. The lidar was positioned 140 m southeast of the ground station.
Position of the lidar relative to the ground station.
| Variable | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| time | Unix timestamp: number of seconds since 0:00 UTC on January 1, 1970 | s |
| date | Date | dd-mm-yyyy |
| time_of_day | Time | hh:mm:ss (UTC+2) |
| kite_{sensor_id}_vx | x-component of the kite velocity in the NED earth reference frame | m/s |
| kite_{sensor_id}_vy | y-component of the kite velocity in the NED earth reference frame | m/s |
| kite_{sensor_id}_vz | z-component of the kite velocity in the NED earth reference frame | m/s |
| kite_{sensor_id}_roll | Roll angle as part of the 3-2-1 Euler sequence to get from the NED earth to the FRD body reference frame | deg |
| kite_{sensor_id}_pitch | Pitch angle as part of the 3-2-1 Euler sequence to get from the NED earth to the FRD body reference frame | deg |
| kite_{sensor_id}_yaw | Yaw angle as part of the 3-2-1 Euler sequence to get from the NED earth to the FRD body reference frame | deg |
| kite_{sensor_id}_longitude | Geodetic longitude of the kite | deg |
| kite_{sensor_id}_latitude | Geodetic latitude of the kite | deg |
| kite_{sensor_id}_altitude | Geodetic altitude of the kite | m |
| ground_tether_reelout_speed | Reel-out speed of the tether (inferred from the rotational speed of the drum) | m/s |
| ground_tether_force | Tether force measured at the ground station (inferred from load cell at outlet pulley and tether angle) | kg |
| ground_tether_length | Total length of the tether deployed from the ground station | m |
| kite_pos_east | Position of the kite east of the ground station (derived primarily from sensor 0 measurements) | m |
| kite_pos_north | Position of the kite north of the ground station (derived primarily from sensor 0 measurements) | m |
| kite_height | Height of the kite relative to the ground station (derived primarily from sensor 0 measurements) | m |
| kite_heading | Angle between the axis pointing up and the kite x-axis projection onto the tangential plane, clockwise positive when viewed from above the kite towards the origin | deg |
| kite_course | Angle between the axis pointing up and the kite velocity projection onto the tangential plane, clockwise positive when viewed from above the kite towards the origin | deg |
| kite_actual_steering | Level of realized steering actuation as a percentage of the range in one direction | % |
| kite_actual_depower | Level of realized depower as a percentage of the full range | % |
| kite_set_steering | Set/desired value of steering actuation as a percentage of the range in one direction | % |
| kite_set_depower | Set/desired depower as a percentage of the full range | % |
| ground_mech_energy | Generated mechanical energy at the winch since the start of the test flight | J |
| ground_mech_power | Mechanical power measured at the winch | W |
| kite_turn_rate | Rate of change of the kite's heading angle (turning speed), clockwise positive when viewed from above | rad/s |
| kite_course_rate | Rate of change of the kite's course angle, clockwise positive when viewed from above | rad/s |
| flight_phase | Label of the active flight phase: pp-ro = reel-out, pp-ri = reel-in, pp-rori = reel-out to reel-in transition, pp-riro = reel-in to reel-out transition |
- |
| flight_phase_index | Index of the active flight phase: 1 = reel-out, 2 = reel-in, 3 = reel-out to reel-in transition, 4 = reel-in to reel-out transition |
- |
| {height} CNR | Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (CNR) at {height} height, indicating the quality of the lidar signal |
dB |
| {height} Radial Wind Speed | Radial wind speed at {height} height, measured along the lidar beam direction |
m/s |
| {height} Radial Wind Speed Dispersion | Dispersion of the radial wind speed at {height} height |
m/s |
| {height} Wind Speed | Total wind speed at {height} height |
m/s |
| {height} Wind Direction | Wind direction at {height} height, measured clockwise from North |
° |
| {height} X-wind | Wind speed component in the north direction at {height} height |
m/s |
| {height} Y-wind | Wind speed component in the east direction at {height} height |
m/s |
| {height} Z-wind | Wind speed component in the vertical (up-down) direction at {height} height |
m/s |
| ground_tether_elevation_angle_rad | Elevation angle of the tether measured by a rotation encoder at the ground station | rad |
| ground_tether_fleet_angle_rad | Fleet angle of the tether measured by a rotation encoder at the ground station | rad |
| ground_temperature | Temperature measured at the ground station | °C |
Oriol Cayon¹, Roland Schmehl¹ (email: r.schmehl@tudelft.nl), Andrei Luca², and Johannes Peschel²
¹ Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands
² Kitepower B.V., Schieweg 15, Hall R, 2627 AN Delft, The Netherlands
This dataset is licensed under the
This project MERIDIONAL has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101084216. The opinions expressed in this document reflect only the author’s view and reflects in no way the European Commission’s opinions. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.