UAVs fly wireless power to remote locations

Jacob Aron, technology reporter

Anyone with an energy-gobbling smartphone knows the pain of having your battery run out while off-grid, but while you can always charge up when you return home, getting power to sensors placed in remote locations is more difficult. Now researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US have come up with a solution - a flying wireless battery mounted on a quadrotor UAV.

The team use a technique called strongly coupled magnetic resonances, in which current in a coil of wire on the UAV generates a magnetic field that resonates with a second coil in the sensor, inducing a voltage and allowing it to charge up.

How much power can be transmitted depends on how far the UAV is from the sensor. When hovering at an optimal distance of 20 centimetres the system can transfer 5.5 watts with an efficiency of 35 per cent, enough to power a small light. Once the juice runs low, the UAV can simply fly back to base and recharge.

The researchers say their system could be used to charge "highway messaging?systems, ecological sensors located in forests, or sensors?shallowly embedded underground or in concrete." And with civilian drone usage taking off, UAVs could soon be delivering power to pretty much anywhere.

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