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.

Comments

Time efficiency

[CaptQuark]

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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Re:Time efficiency

[ShanghaiBill]

A fully autonomous drone could land and recharge at a ground station for a heck of a lot less than $120,000.

Re:Time efficiency

[Joce640k]

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.

Recharge While Hovering

[mentil]

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.

Re:Recharge While Hovering

[Barny]

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.