Researchers build a wirelessly powered drone that can fly forever

0 0

By Matthew Griffin Earth and Energy 26th September 2016

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Now drones never need to “sleep” again.

Quadcopter drones are great for all kind of things from filming to delivering small, sometimes dubious, packages but every drone, irrespective of whether it’s a hobbyists DJI drone or a US military MQ-9 Reaper, is limited by its battery life. There are all kinds of potential solutions to this problem that range from fuel cell powered drones to charging nests on streetlights and and rooftops, like those proposed by Amazon.

This new quantum material pushes solar panel EQE efficiency to 190 percent

In a world where wireless power continues to make great advances it makes sense that one day drone makers would find a way to harness it. And that’s just what a team based at Imperial College in London has managed to do – albeit on a small scale, for now, and conceivably there’s no reason why wirelessly powered drones couldn’t fly forever – or at least until their rotors gave out.

The drone was developed by Dr. Sam Aldhaher who’s explained his work in an academic paper. In Aldhahers experiment the battery in his small quadcopter drone has been replaced with a coil of copper foil tape which acts as a receiver for the electromagnetic waves that are being put out by the charging plate that the drone is flying over – the concept isn’t all too disimilar to the set up that mobile phone manufacturers and gadget enthusiasts use to power their smart phones, except for the fact that in this set up the drone, as you can see from the video below, is flying.

It’s a cool trick but not entirely practical, after all wireless power only works reliably over very small distances – but that range is gradually improving with new systems coming out that can wirelessly charge devices from over 15 feet away. So until the point when wireless power gets much, much better it looks like this little flying demonstration will be restricted to the lab – or to your desk. One day though that drone that’s spying on you won’t need to go off to recharge its batteries, or sleep, and then, finally we’ll all welcome in the 247 surveillance society, but then to offset that at least we can combine that with 247 drone donut deliveries. Life’s not all bad…

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.