Drone technology is becoming increasingly powerful, and as a result increasingly deployed in a range of industries. One notable limiter is the power life of each drone. If you are limited to keeping your drone in the air for, perhaps, an hour, then it significantly limits what you can achieve with it.
A new system, developed by Cyphy Works, is attempting to provide drones with an easy way to recharge, and therefore significantly enhance their usability.
Perpetual motion
The six engined device comes complete with a camera system and capacity for a range of communication devices.
The power is provided via a microfilament that tethers the device to the ground and allows almost unlimited flying time.
The team are confident that their system is capable of delivering high power levels to the device, which subsequently allows high-definition communication through the cable.
The wire is both incredibly thin, but also strong enough to enable the device to be reeled back in. It is tethered to the ground to allow both power and data to be transmitted, although the tether places obvious limitations on the range of the vehicle.
The PARC team claim it can reach altitudes of around 500 feet, although this obviously requires no obstructions between the device and its anchor point.
The device is due for commercial launch this winter after the company achieved an exemption for commercial flight, and the team are confident of the devices success.
“By 2020 you will be seeing drone delivery,” they said recently. “Technically we could do it earlier, but if you’ve been involved in the struggle with the FAA since the ?90s you would not place a bet that they would allow larger, non-line-of-sight vehicles to fly over populated cities.”
It undoubtedly has a range of use cases, but whilst the technology is a valuable start point, I can’t help but feel it requires wireless transmission to be truly groundbreaking.
Time will tell.
Having it tethered must severely limit the range of use cases though surely?
Hey, I have an electric car that has unlimited range. You just have to keep it plugged in with a really really long extension cord.
It does seem like a pretty limiting factor. It will be interesting to see what use cases emerge for it (if any).
It can fly forever because it’s connected to the ground with a power cable. meh
If its tethered, why not just use a helium balloon? Less moving parts prone to immediate and catastrophic failure.
This is interesting, but since it's tethered, it can't achieve much. Maybe eventually when it's more advanced, it'll be an interesting technology, but for now, that's a pretty big limiting factor.