I have read a lot of articles on both sides of the supercapacitor argument, but no one seems really certain within the UAV community. Correct me if I am wrong (because I'm really trying to understand) - I thought the ESC and BEC regulate power. So, if the ESC and BEC are regulators it seems that the SuperCap would be a viable option (today) especially because it charges so quickly. Even if you make the argument that ESC-BEC alliance isn't sufficient or adequate, I've seen people use microcontrollers to regulated the SuperCap and get an hour of charge. Now, what would it take (in terms of LIPO size and weight) to get an hour of UAV flight time using a LIPO? Should we really so no its not viable or should we be trying tweaking, reporting back, and repeating? Or, am I missing something?
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But all of the above can be doen using a LiPo for less cost currently. Still i think used to power the FC, without a second battery to charge has some attraction.
http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/
The energy density of a super/ultracap is small fraction of a typical lipo.
See the chart in this article:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/whats_the_role_of_the_su...
Namely, the "Specific energy" row which shows typical watt-hours per kilogram.
A battery of supercaps that can store the same amount of energy as a lipo would weigh 20-40x as much as the lipo.