  Batteries have been identified as one most likely small UAS (sUAS) components
to fail in flight. sUAS safety will therefore be improved with redundant or
backup batteries. This paper presents a prognostics-informed Markov Decision
Process (MDP) model for managing multi-battery reconfiguration for sUAS
missions. Typical lithium polymer (Lipo) battery properties are experimentally
characterized and used in Monte Carlo simulations to establish battery dynamics
in sUAS flights of varying duration. Case studies illustrate the trade off
between multi-battery system increased complexity/weight and resilience to
non-ideal battery performance.
