Cross-Dataset Assessment of Electrical Loading, Thermal-Domain Evolution, and Abuse-Domain Separation in UAV-Relevant Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) experience highly dynamic electrical loads, but thermal warning criteria are rarely interpreted against non-abuse aviation-oriented operating states. This study integrated three independent datasets: 196 DJI Matrice 100 flights, 13,326 validated Sony-Murata VTC6 laboratory missions from 16 cells, and 67 high-temperature-rise abuse experiments from six cell/source families. Real UAV operation showed sustained electrical demand, with a median mission P95 power of 643.1 W; each additional 250 g payload was associated with a 51.1 W increase in P95 power. Among non-abuse missions, 942/13,326 (7.07%) reached at least 60 °C, and median mission maximum temperature increased by 14.28 °C from the first to final within-cell progression decile. However, the conservative maximum non-abuse heating rate at T ≥ 60 °C was 0.451 °C·s−1, below the minimum same-thermocouple value of 0.900 °C·s−1 in the abuse cohort. A literature-based criterion of T ≥ 60 °C and dT/dt ≥ 1 °C·s−1 produced no observed non-abuse activations and activated in 66/67 abuse experiments. Thus, temperature-domain overlap increased across recorded mission progression, whereas empirical thermal-rate separation persisted.