Boeing, the Second-largest Defense Contractor in the World, Patents Drone That Can Fly Forever
Boeing just patented a drone that can fly forever
June 5, 2015
Yahoo! Finance - This week the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an application from Boeing for an autonomous drone that can be recharged without landing.
Today the amount of time a drone
can spend in the air is limited by the amount of fuel or electricity
the unmanned aircraft can carry.
But those limitations could soon be a thing of the past.
According to the patent, the
system involves battery-powered dirigibles or drones that can deploy a
retractable tether. The tether will be able to connect to a power source
as the craft hovers. When fully charged, the drone will automatically
fly off to complete its programmed task while another drone will fly in
and take its place at the charging point.
Depending on the specific application of the drone, the tether can be connected to a variety of sources including land- and ocean-based power supplies. The tether can even be connected to moving vehicles, allowing the drone to charge while flying.
The patent — filed in March 2013
and approved this week — is a reasonable concept for an efficient and
effective way to manage and charge a fleet of drones. Because the drones
can fly indefinitely without landing, the system forgos the need for
landing and storage space. Of course, the drones would probably have to
periodically land for maintenance.
Thus far, the proposed system exists on the drawing board. There's no word whether Boeing plans to actually build these drones.
Check out a full video overview here:
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