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Drones could become useful for surveillance and remote monitoring in many industries, and perhaps one day will even ferry the latest Amazon order to your front door. But there's one big limiting factor: drones can stay in the air for only so long on a charge.
Not the latest model developed by the Boston-based drone maker CyPhy Works, though. Called Parc, the drone can perform aerial surveillance indefinitely, using a "microfilament" that transmits power and data. Of course the fact that it's tethered means the drone can't travel very far. CyPhy Works expects it to be used for reconnaissance or as a communications relay.
Wind?
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This Surveillance Drone Never Needs to Land
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 15 2015, @04:42AM
The wire gives away the operator's location allowing any pissed-off surveiled subject to blow them to bits.
I would suggest flying your own tiny wired plane around their wire, like kite-people do. An unfortunate tangle and no more surveillance.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Common Joe on Sunday November 15 2015, @05:57AM
That and a drone with rotating blades will not stay up indefinitely. I hate the words "Never Needs to Land" (found in the original article, not just the SN summary). That reeks of PR and advertisement lies. Anyone with two brain cells will tell you that parts fail. It's a question of what fails first and when. Motor? Camera? Plastic frame? Two months? A year? This thing will need maintenance or it will fall out of the sky one day. It will land in some form or fashion.
A better way for the article's author to describe this would be that this drone doesn't need a recharge and then explain the wired tethering.
Another interesting WTF is that the drone can carry a 5 pound payload for 5 miles. According to the article, the current FAA rules require recreational users to stay below 400 feet. That brings up a great question: what would these things be used for? Delivery through a neighborhood as half suggested by the article? Even if these drones get clearance for flying higher, I just can't imagine several of these things flying through a neighborhood without dragging it's cord and getting tangled in the urban jungle on the ground... even if it can physically wind up 5 miles worth of cable within its body.
They got $22 Million in funding from venture capital firms including UPS. How did they answer this basic question to them?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday November 15 2015, @09:23AM
If one is going to tether, why are they messing with the power to keep the thing aloft? How about a mini-dirigible?
Motors to propel and steer, but do not have to provide the constant power to fight gravity.
Extra power will only demand a heavier tether. Seen the power draw on quadricopters?. If we are talking airspeed for lift as in airplane mode, what is the aerodynamic drag for the tether?
I could even see a little pressurized vessel on board for pumping helium in and out of for buoyancy trim.
Just my thoughts on this thing...
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday November 15 2015, @08:01PM
Well, if you're going to a tethered powered blimp, why not ferry up power and skip the helium. Hot air baloons work well, so just heat the container to get lighter air, and a fan to cool down when you want to land. But baloons, blips, dirigibles, etc. all have a much higher wind resistance than does a drone. (Being tethered doesn't keep it from being a drone. I'm not quite sure what the word means to where I can draw boundaries, but it's been used for lots of tethered craft.)
Query: What's the difference between a drone and a model airplane? Model airplanes have worked both tethered and untethered for decades now. Is it the camera? Is remote sensing the difference?
P.S.: I've heard unmanned submersibles called drones. But they *did* all have sensors that relayed information. This may be happenstance, as their purpose was to report on conditions, so I'm not sure it's a part of the definition.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.