The key point of UAV breakthrough

What are the key technical points for the UAV to achieve a breakthrough?

First, power technology

Endurance is a major obstacle to the development of UAV at present. The endurance of consumer-grade multi-rotor is basically about 20min minutes, and users have to carry multiple batteries for backup when flying out, which makes it very inconvenient to use. UAV must achieve a breakthrough in power to reach a new revolutionary height.

1. New battery

In 2015, EnergyOr Technology Co., Ltd. from Montreal, Canada reported that the quadrotor with fuel cell had a 3-hour and 43-minute endurance flight. In addition, graphene, aluminum-air battery and nano-battery are expected to become the hope of the future battery world. There is an urgent need for these new battery technologies. They will first be applied to mobile phones and electric vehicles, and then they can be equipped with multi-rotors.

2. Hybrid power

In 2015, TopFlightTechnologies, an American startup, reported that it had developed a hybrid six-rotor UAV. The six-rotor can fly for two and a half hours with only one gallon of gasoline, with a distance of about 160 kilometers and a maximum load of about 9 kilograms. In addition, a company from Germany, AirsTIer, introduced a multi-rotor. The multi-rotor adopts hybrid power of oil and electricity, with a payload of 5 kg and can fly for one hour.

3. Ground power supply

Ground-powered tethered multi-rotor can continuously transmit electric energy to multi-rotor through cables, which can greatly improve the air time of multi-rotor. For example: Israeli company Skysapience rotor.

4. Wireless charging

Wireless charging technology has been commercialized in mobile phones, electric toothbrushes and other electronic products, and is being deeply applied in the field of electric vehicles. SkySense, a startup from Berlin, Germany, provides a solution for outdoor charging of drones: developing a tablet that can wirelessly charge drones. The biggest feature of SkySense is that it can be remotely controlled, and the whole process of landing-charging-taking off of UAV can be realized independently, without any intervention and assistance on the spot. If the charging time is faster, wireless charging technology will greatly help multi-rotor to fly long distances.