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Crafty quadcopter can operate indefinitely by recharging on power lines
Battery life wouldn't be an issue for drones if they could just recharge on power lines as needed. That's exactly what an experimental new quadcopter can now do, allowing it to stay aloft pretty much indefinitely.
Developed by scientists from the University of Southern Denmark, the charging technology could be utilized by drones carrying out a wide variety of tasks. Viet Duong Hoang and colleagues started with a commercial Tarot 650 Sport carbon fiber drone frame, then added an electric quadcopter propulsion system, a 7,000-mAh lithium-polymer battery, and electronic components such as a Raspberry Pi 4 B microcomputer, a Pixhawk V6X autopilot module, plus a millimeter-wave radar unit and an RGB video camera. In field tests performed on power lines at Denmark's HCA Airport, the 4.3-kg (9.5-lb) demonstrator drone was able to operate for over two hours, recharging its battery five times between line-inspection sessions.
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