If yesterday we saw how he Swiss postal service wanted to integrate drones to its staff to make parcel deliveries in remote areas, today we have to fly to practically the antipodes of Spain to see the latest novelty launched in this field. Specifically and from the University of Sydney an article has just been launched where a team of researchers tell us about their latest advance, charge drone batteries in flight.
Before continuing to tell you that this time we are not referring to the drones we are used to, that is, we are not talking about quadcopters or any similar type of drone that you can buy in a store or trade but rather about military units capable of flying autonomously for thousands of kilometers. Unfortunately and although the autonomy of these «appliances»It is usually very large are also limited in some services so it is not surprising that the way is investigated, without the need to replace the batteries or to rest on the ground, charge these drones mid-flight so that they remain in service.
Specifically, what they have been experimenting with is how to get, in a very similar way to how conventional airplanes that need to refuel in flight, charge the batteries of these drones. As you can see in the video on these lines, basically what they have come up with is a pole with a kind of connector at the end with which to charge the batteries. According to the article, this system works both with drones with a propulsion engine or powered by electrical energy. without the need for either of them to be manned.
To get both drones to pair perfectly in flight, a system has been devised where thanks to a High definition GPS and motion sensors both aircraft know their position and that of the other drone while, with a infrared system, the team that must charge its batteries knows with total precision where the other plane is located and especially the pole to which it must be connected. By way of detail, the developer team is already thinking of new applications for all this technology, such as one plane picking up another to take them back to base.