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Wireless Tech Company Finds Way To Charge Drones In Flight
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.
A hundred and eighteen years before its time.
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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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.
Hello, sir!
Tesla's did it. Tesla's did it.
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.
Does GET sleep under power lines?
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
Imagine such towers all over the place. Drone delivery is going to get exciting. https://www.damninteresting.co...
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.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
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.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
I'm not aware of a drone that can fly for 30 min after it's plugged into a wall charger for 8 min.
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.
Descent has been doing this since 1995.
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.
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
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.