Chinese scientists develop laser-powered drone to stay aloft ‘forever’
- Research team says it has cracked the problem of keeping drones in the air for extended periods which has limited their use, until now
- System uses laser beam to power optics-driven drone remotely by converting light energy into electricity
They thought that if a drone was fitted with a photoelectric conversion module that converted light energy into electricity, a high-energy laser beam could not only track it, but also power it remotely.
The team, from NPU’s school of artificial intelligence, optics and electronics, said a recent experiment had successfully combined the autonomous charging process with intelligent signal transmission and processing technology – demonstrating the unlimited endurance potential for optics-driven drones (ODD).
“Highlights of the research are 24-hour intelligent vision tracking system and the autonomous long-range energy replenishment for ODD,” the team reported on NPU’s official WeChat account last week.
According to the researchers, the first challenge was to track the drones in the air. The team developed a tracking algorithm based on intelligent visuals to follow and accurately predict ODD targets as they fly.
The algorithm had good tolerance with illumination, scale and rotation, was robust in different environments, and achieved the precise positioning of drones, the report said.