Wireless Tech Company Finds Way To Charge Drones In Flight

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Wireless Tech Company Finds Way To Charge Drones In Flight

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday January 9, 2019 @07:00PM from the never-coming-down dept.

Global Energy Transmission (GET) co-founder William Kallamn says his wireless tech company has found a way to create a "power cloud" that can charge a drone while it's in flight. "The system comprises a ground-based power station with a frame of wires positioned in a roughly circular shape," reports Futurism. "When turned on, this creates an electromagnetic field in the air near the station. A drone equipped with a special antennae charges by flying into the range of the power cloud." From the report: Eight minutes of charge time translates to 30 minutes of flight. One of GET's power stations and two customized drones, each capable of carrying 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds), currently costs $120,000. It's hard to overstate the potential for drones to change our world, but for seemingly every positive use for the machines (package delivery, search and rescue operations), there's a negative one to consider (military weaponry, citizen surveillance). So, sure, a drone that never needs to land would be amazingly beneficial for moviemaking and sports coverage -- two uses Kallman notes in [an interview with entertainment vlogger David Fordham] -- but it's hard to imagine military or government officials wouldn't be highly interested in GET's drone charging tech as well.

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The Tesla power tower by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 19:08 · Score: 1, Informative

A hundred and eighteen years before its time.
1. Re:The Tesla power tower by NicknameUnavailable · 2019-01-10 00:20 · Score: 2
  
  A hundred and eighteen years before its time.
  We still don't have those, because they don't allow you to limit the charging volume to a small area which you can ensure nobody is stealing power from you in.
2. Re:The Tesla power tower by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  no, we don't have them because they're incredibly inefficient transfers of energy
3. Re:The Tesla power tower by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 12:10 · Score: 0
  
  This sounds like stealing power from your neighbor's wifi, but better. You won't do much with that power anyway.
  What about stealing power from the phone landline :). Only useful if you don't pay for power at your home anymore, don't/can't steal electric power but you still have a land line.
4. Re:The Tesla power tower by WolfWithoutAClause · 2019-01-14 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  Nonsense. The problem with these technologies is getting enough range, not people a large distance away stealing your watts
  With resonant technologies, if you're roughly 3 times the diameter of the coils away, then the power you can receive is largely negligible fraction of the transmission power, and it only goes down from there. With beamed technologies, they actually have to point a beam at you.
  In either case, with sensible positioning of the equipment, it's a non issue.
  
  --
  -WolfWithoutAClause
  "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
5. Re:The Tesla power tower by NicknameUnavailable · 2019-01-14 13:09 · Score: 1
  
  No they aren't. The coupling only happens when there is a load, driving it without something actively pulling power requires practically nothing.
6. Re:The Tesla power tower by NicknameUnavailable · 2019-01-14 13:11 · Score: 1
  
  A Tesla coil alone (as in a real one, not some flashy sparking abomination) can get a range of hundreds of miles easily. If you had a network of them acting in unison (e.g. Tesla's Wardenclyffe project) you could use the resonant cavity between the Earth and ionosphere to power every terrestrial device remotely.
  
  The issue is entirely due to the fact you can't monetize such formats of power distribution.
Time efficiency by CaptQuark · 2019-01-09 19:14 · Score: 3, Interesting

Eight minutes of hovering in a charging field vs 30 seconds to land and replace the batteries. I guess a fully autonomous vehicle might benefit from hands-off recharging.

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1. Re:Time efficiency by ShanghaiBill · 2019-01-09 19:31 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  A fully autonomous drone could land and recharge at a ground station for a heck of a lot less than $120,000.
2. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 20:48 · Score: 0
  
  I know what you mean. On top of that, he missed his last Sunday video release which should have been produced with the brand new Panasonic HC-V180K camcorder that Santa brought him for Christmas to replace his iPhone 6s for recording #YouTube videos.
  Sad, so sad.
3. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 21:06 · Score: 0
  
  Well, he is currently too busy applying 2 years worth of security patches at his Palo Alto high security environment 3 letter agency IT job!
  As he posted here before, he has to wait for a government shutdown to apply patches and previous couple government shutdowns weren't long enough to allow him to do his job properly.
  He was pretty annoyed by this and expressed the wish that the next government shut down would be longer so he must be pretty happy these days.
  I am sure that he will come back to us stronger than ever for the next video produced with his brand new camcorder!
4. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 21:33 · Score: 0
  
  I certainly hope so! Chris was the target of unfair and uncalled-for harassment for too long. Sure he was annoying but so are many users here.
5. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 22:02 · Score: 0
  
  Does it make sense to you to wait 2 years for a long enough government shutdown to apply critical security patches in a highly secured 3 letter agency IT environment?
  Still, Chris pretends that's how it works!
6. Re:Time efficiency by Joce640k · 2019-01-09 22:08 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Yep. A $5 inductive charger would do it.
  And ... why would you hover when charging? That's wasted power (8 minutes of flight time)
  Nothing about this passes the sniff test.
  
  --
  No sig today...
7. Re: Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 22:52 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly this. Wtf is the point? You could solve the problem easier even by using petrol and creating a way to refuel that way. Unless it's very long range, it's useless..
8. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 23:18 · Score: 0
  
  Land & swap batteries tends to involve a human. Too expensive, we want a fully automated system when deploying thousands of drones.
  Region-wide package delivery? You fill out a web form, a drone come & pick up your package at your property. The battery isn't big enough to go all the way with such a heavy package; so the drone pauses at several automatic chargers along the way. Charging while flying means they can have many drones over the charger at any time - and no troublesome landing. Eventually the drone arrives at the destination, and leave the package. Nobody cares if it spent 8, 16 or 24 minutes charging along the way, unless it is delivering pizza.
9. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 23:25 · Score: 0
  
  I think the key takeaway is "now drones can make an awful noise even when they are just charging".
10. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 00:14 · Score: 0
  
  rigid airship could provide that and the drone can also rearm for the next sortie without having to land in a hot zone or fly all the way back to base.
11. Re: Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 00:49 · Score: 0
  
  What's your obsession with th N word? Go get laid or something.
12. Re:Time efficiency by RobinH · 2019-01-10 01:09 · Score: 1
  
  If I had a fleet of commercial (and expensive) drones buzzing around making me money and the wireless charging made programming easier (don't have to dock exactly to a charging port) and caused less wear and tear on the landing struts, etc., then I would probably be interested in $120,000 wireless charging solution.
  
  --
  "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
13. Re:Time efficiency by DigiShaman · 2019-01-10 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  Why not design the drone with the battery back on the bottom? Design them with two smaller battery packs that can be be "dropped". Prior to landing, just leave a smaller amount of reserve power in one of the packs.
  See where I'm going with this? Basically, the drone lands, drops the battery a few inches from the charging bay, then picks up a freshly charged ones (or a mechanism does the swapping). Now do the same with the other battery pack so as to not lose power. As for the spent batteries, the contact pins that landed on the charging bay start serve to recharge them on the next go around.
  Like bees collecting pollen.
  
  --
  Life is not for the lazy.
14. Re:Time efficiency by RhettLivingston · 2019-01-10 03:05 · Score: 2
  
  Exactly.
  They are being obtuse about the charging distance too. The best spec I can find is "dozens of meters" on their site. The specification page indicates very little (despite being the obvious place to put a charging distance spec) but it does say the "Charge Spot Diameter" is "up to 8 meters". So, assuming dozens is 2 dozen, the device needs to hover within about a 25 ft diameter region up to 80 ft or so up. That isn't even always above treetop level.
  In addition, the flight time carrying a load is only 16 minutes (also shown on their specification page). It is apparently never 30 minutes as the unloaded flight time appears to be 28 minutes. They don't indicate what speed it can fly at for those 16 minutes, but I'd guess that it isn't the maximum speed of 60 km/h.
  So, assuming 8 minutes to charge, carrying a load you can only fly around 66% of the time. The rest of the time you must hover. Seems like it would be much better to get a drone with a decent flight time and just land it for charging than to spend $120,000 on their package of 1 charging station and 2 drones. I can't imagine the use case where this system becomes worth that much.
15. Re:Time efficiency by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 03:26 · Score: 0
  
  then you be an idiot
16. Re:Time efficiency by ShanghaiBill · 2019-01-10 04:51 · Score: 1
  
  (don't have to dock exactly to a charging port)
  Have your use a modern drone? I have a DJI Mavic. Landing within an inch is easy even for a human.
  
  ... and caused less wear and tear on the landing struts, etc.
  Is this supposed to be sarcasm? Or are you actually serious? 8 minutes of hovering will cause more wear on parts that actually matter.
  
  I would probably be interested in $120,000 wireless charging solution.
  You may want to apply to be a financial analyst for DoD. They would love you.
17. Re:Time efficiency by Ol+Olsoc · 2019-01-10 06:05 · Score: 1
  
  If I had a fleet of commercial (and expensive) drones buzzing around making me money and the wireless charging made programming easier (don't have to dock exactly to a charging port) and caused less wear and tear on the landing struts, etc., then I would probably be interested in $120,000 wireless charging solution.
  I'd be really interested in perpetual energy too.
  
  --
  The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
18. Re:Time efficiency by sysrammer · 2019-01-10 21:15 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly. If you have to "go home" anyways, might as well "set for a spell and take a load off".
  
  --
  His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
Secure the northern border by Powercntrl · 2019-01-09 19:48 · Score: 0

It's only a matter of time before the nationalists start realizing illegals come in through the northern border, too. Canada would shit a brick if we destroyed the nature's beauty with an ugly wall/fence/whatever the hell this is.
Drones that don't have to land are the absolute holy grail of border security. Sure, it's creepy, but if you've seen the movie Real Genius than you know where this is going - you don't develop this sort of technology without already having an idea how it will be used. Sooner or later, they'll tire of having to send people out to arrest illegals, and the government will just equip the drones with less-than-lethal weapons. Mark my words, it's coming.

--

---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
1. Re: Secure the northern border by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 20:06 · Score: 0
  
  Damn you contry's getting paranoid. That fear is going to cost you way more than illegal immigration does.
2. Re: Secure the northern border by Powercntrl · 2019-01-09 21:28 · Score: 1
  
  Damn you contry's getting paranoid. That fear is going to cost you way more than illegal immigration does.
  Personally, I don't think the USA should be so paranoid over illegals. But considering the government is actually shut down at the moment over the issue of border security, it's really no stretch to imagine a border patrolled by a fleet of drones.
  As a side note, what crack smoking moderator decided my post was "flamebait"? Pointing out that good ol' Uncle Sam would love to use this technology for border security isn't flamebait, it's the logical progression of the path we're already on.
  
  --
  
  ---
  DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
3. Re: Secure the northern border by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 22:33 · Score: 0
  
  It's flamebait because we don't need your shit us politics in every thread
4. Re: Secure the northern border by Powercntrl · 2019-01-09 23:11 · Score: 1
  
  It's flamebait because we don't need your shit us politics in every thread
  I realize the reading comprehension level has been dropping on this site, but this wasn't an attempt to shoehorn politics into an irrelevant discussion. Border patrol already uses drones, and the number of drone flights has been increasing.
  
  --
  
  ---
  DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
5. Re: Secure the northern border by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 03:01 · Score: 0
  
  Do you have any idea how much illegals cost us?! Look it up then youâ(TM)ll rethink your comment.
6. Re: Secure the northern border by d0rp · 2019-01-10 08:37 · Score: 1
  
  it's really no stretch to imagine a border patrolled by a fleet of drones.
  Being patrolled by drones seems like it would be more effective than a wall anyway ($120,000 wireless charging notwithstanding). Unless you have people monitoring every part of the wall, it's pretty easy to overcome with a ladder (people have been doing this since castle walls were invented, which is why they also had people manning the walls), a shovel, or a saw (apparently the prototype "walls" they're testing can be pretty easily cut through).
  Of course, just having fixed towers / poles with cameras mounted on them spaced out across the border might work even better and cheaper than drones. I'm not sure about the specific economics of either.
Recharge While Hovering by mentil · 2019-01-09 20:07 · Score: 3, Interesting

Shouldn't the inverse square law mean that the further the drone is from the power station, the slower it'd charge? The '8 minutes of charging for 30 minutes of airtime' depends completely on battery tech, weight of the drone, and how far it is off the ground. I suspect that recharging faster than it discharges requires the drone to hover a few feet over the power station, in which case it'd be faster to land and plug in. This would hardly enable it to remain high up in the air while recharging at a significant rate. Using beamforming to zap it with microwaves might be more effective.

--
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
1. Re:Recharge While Hovering by Barny · 2019-01-09 20:18 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's even better, the further it is away the lower the efficiency of the charger. The guy basically built a way to piss power into the wind and sometimes top off the batteries of his drone.
  
  --
  ...
  /me sighs
2. Re: Recharge While Hovering by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 22:13 · Score: 0
  
  Probably gave up on crypto mining, net result will save a few bucks.
Mr. Tesla! by bmimatt · 2019-01-09 20:08 · Score: 1

Hello, sir!
To paraphrase South Park... by technosaurus · 2019-01-09 20:13 · Score: 2

Tesla's did it. Tesla's did it.
1. Re:To paraphrase South Park... by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 20:42 · Score: 0
  
  Just lightly land on a a powerline or find an unused external powerpoint, and plug into that.
  outdoor pools - for their pumps, outdoor sheds. Add movement detection, and you fly off before the irate householder sees it hoovering up the electricity
2. Re:To paraphrase South Park... by RhettLivingston · 2019-01-10 03:50 · Score: 1
  
  As in this Air Force patent from 2004?
  Can't find it now, but I've seen a video (not animation) of this idea in action using a drone plane. It would fly to the wire and sort of stall over it so that it would fall backwards and a hook near the front bottom would snag the wire. After charging, it would then fly straight up to get off of the wire.
  I think it would be cool if someone were to release drones like this "to the wild" that just flew around following power lines, charging when necessary, taking random videos or pictures, and acting as a server on any public WiFi it could connect to. About the smartest thing it might have to do is connect to a weather server now and then to know when it should just hang on the power line for a while to avoid a passing storm.
Just let's hope by no-body · 2019-01-09 20:15 · Score: 2

that those "wireless" thingies don't go the glyphosate way. Strong interests pushing potential damages under the carpet because ... and at the end, there is damage to health.
EMF by tquasar · 2019-01-09 20:23 · Score: 1

Does GET sleep under power lines?
1. Re: EMF by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 00:11 · Score: 0
  
  You GET cancer! You GET cancer! You all GET a cancer!
The Quiet Earth by bungo · 2019-01-09 20:31 · Score: 1

Wireless power grid? Great idea.
What could possible go wrong with that .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_Earth_(film)

--
"The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
Someone alert Britain. by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 20:49 · Score: 0

I hear Heathrow staff are shaking in the toilets. And not because they are urinating!
1. Re: Someone alert Britain. by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 06:37 · Score: 0
  
  Are they diarrheaing ?
Pics are impressive. by thesjaakspoiler · 2019-01-09 20:58 · Score: 1

Imagine such towers all over the place. Drone delivery is going to get exciting. https://www.damninteresting.co...
1. Re:Pics are impressive. by Shaitan · 2019-01-10 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  Don't hold your breath. This probably has some troubling interactions with RF.
2. Re:Pics are impressive. by Ol+Olsoc · 2019-01-10 05:30 · Score: 1
  
  Don't hold your breath. This probably has some troubling interactions with RF.
  Pretty much this. There are some big issues with efficiencies - near field and far field RF physics has not been invalidated that I know of. The amount of power that is needed to flood a narrow field with enough joules of energy to charge at a rate that allows 30 minutes of flying time with 8 minutes of charge time is about as impressive a feat as I can imagine.
  To the point that Ima calling provisional bullshit. This sounds the same level of believability as the devices that magically condense incredible amounts of water from desert air.
  
  --
  The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Fake Wireless Charging Story again? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-09 21:07 · Score: 0

I may be getting older, but at least I don't fall for obvious bullshit stories like this one.
Also cooks birds in flight no doubt by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 00:13 · Score: 0

and who knows what other side effects it will have.
Seriously? by Urinal+Pube · 2019-01-10 01:33 · Score: 1

I'm not aware of a drone that can fly for 30 min after it's plugged into a wall charger for 8 min.
1. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 05:00 · Score: 0
  
  I've found that with a small solar panel and tiny wind turbine I can keep my drone hovering over British airports for days at a time.
The military will not be interested by ceoyoyo · 2019-01-10 02:52 · Score: 1

Militaries will not be interested. What's the point if your drone has to return to a base station? The US military is already experimenting with laser charged drones, where they can beam power out kilometres to charge the thing without interrupting its spying/unexpected death from the skies thing.
1. Re:The military will not be interested by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 03:03 · Score: 0
  
  The military already has a system where a drone can charge by hovering near a high-tension line. I'm not aware of any military program to develop a line-of-sight laser charging method like you describe.
2. Re:The military will not be interested by q4Fry · 2019-01-18 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  The military already has a system where a drone can charge by hovering near a high-tension line. I'm not aware of any military program to develop a line-of-sight laser charging method like you describe.
  I'd be interested in links to either tech.
This is old tech! by Crash+Gordon · 2019-01-10 04:04 · Score: 1

Descent has been doing this since 1995.
Drone Swarm by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 04:18 · Score: 0

I'm both entertained and frightened by imagining a swarm of drones buzzing around an invisible charging field in the air, trying to compete with one another for the valuable charge space. Though as others have said, this just isn't as effective as an inductive charging landing pad would be.
Scotty will say: by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-10 06:35 · Score: 0

Ye cannae change laws of physics, Jim.
Hunter-killer bots by theCat · 2019-01-10 06:49 · Score: 1

Read between the lines and this is not about hobby drones, it is about autonomous hunter-killer and 24/7 surveillance drones. True black ops autonomy means never having to be serviced by a human. No humans involved, nobody to interfere or screw things up. These things could be launched once and then never return, and operate invisibly for a decade charging themselves autonomously any time they need to.

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=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us