Matthew Stock reports about an unmanned aircraft that is theoretically capable of flying forever. The drone remains connected to a “mobile ground station via a tether”, this way the airborne drone is fed with drip power.
Likewise, the drone can be indefinitely airborne provided the tank on the ground does not run out of the same. The inventors believe that the said technology could allow operators to keep a continuous watch from the sky. The reader in unmanned air vehicles from the University of Southampton, Dr. Stephen Prior, said:
"It's basically a virtual mast, so you could imagine surveillance operations, rescue missions at sea or on land, surveillance of large complexes like nuclear power stations."
Moreover, the drone can be equipped with “thermal imaging cameras” as well as “high-definition video cameras” that can help in rescue missions and in surveillance. The engineers from “Essex-based Cardinal Securities” and Southampton University got together to create this technology. Reuters reports that:
“It's the only tethered UAV in the UK legally approved to operate at heights up to 400 ft. Miltary grade systems like this cost about a quarter of a million pounds, whereas this one comes in at 70,000 pounds”.
While, Dr. Prior adds:
"You can hook the trailer up to your 4x4 vehicle and you can drive anywhere you want and get it in the air within a few minutes, and move around to different locations while staying in the air. Or you can come back down to box it up and move to a different location. So it's quite flexible as a system, quite adaptable to the mission scenario and at a good price point that makes it affordable to blue-light services as well as companies that want security."
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
Likewise, the drone can be indefinitely airborne provided the tank on the ground does not run out of the same. The inventors believe that the said technology could allow operators to keep a continuous watch from the sky. The reader in unmanned air vehicles from the University of Southampton, Dr. Stephen Prior, said:
"It's basically a virtual mast, so you could imagine surveillance operations, rescue missions at sea or on land, surveillance of large complexes like nuclear power stations."
Moreover, the drone can be equipped with “thermal imaging cameras” as well as “high-definition video cameras” that can help in rescue missions and in surveillance. The engineers from “Essex-based Cardinal Securities” and Southampton University got together to create this technology. Reuters reports that:
“It's the only tethered UAV in the UK legally approved to operate at heights up to 400 ft. Miltary grade systems like this cost about a quarter of a million pounds, whereas this one comes in at 70,000 pounds”.
While, Dr. Prior adds:
"You can hook the trailer up to your 4x4 vehicle and you can drive anywhere you want and get it in the air within a few minutes, and move around to different locations while staying in the air. Or you can come back down to box it up and move to a different location. So it's quite flexible as a system, quite adaptable to the mission scenario and at a good price point that makes it affordable to blue-light services as well as companies that want security."
References:
http://www.reuters.com/