Global perspective: South Danish University developing drone technology that can be charged from wires

Global perspective: South Danish University developing drone technology that can be charged from wires

According to foreign media reports, the continuous development of drone technology is changing our understanding of aerial surveillance and inspection. Battery endurance, as a major bottleneck in the use of drones, has always been a focus of attention for researchers and the industry. The research team at the University of South Denmark has conducted in-depth research on this issue in recent years and successfully developed a drone system that can be charged directly from the power line.
The research team has made innovative modifications on the Tarot 650 Sport drone platform. They installed a precise fixture system for the drone and customized advanced components such as electric four axis aircraft propulsion system and autonomous driving module. When the battery level of the drone is low, its system can automatically detect and locate the nearest power cord using a camera and millimeter wave radar.

Once the power cord is found, the drone will autonomously fly to the bottom of the line, guide the cable into the fixture through a specially designed arm, and then the induction charger will start to draw electricity from the wire. When the battery is fully charged, the fixture will automatically release and the drone will continue to perform its mission. The initial design purpose of this technology was to support the self charging of power line inspection drones during mission execution.

The team presented their latest research findings at the upcoming IEEE International Conference on Robotics (11.010, 0.16, 1.47%) and Automation. In the paper, they proudly claim that this technology is a "global first" that can maintain the continuous operation of drones across multiple inspection and charging cycles, simply by collecting energy from wires in actual outdoor environments.

In the most recent successful test, the drone flew continuously in the air for over two hours, during which it conducted five wire checks and charging operations. This technology is of great significance for monitoring and inspecting power lines in remote areas, especially in difficult to reach mountainous areas where drone inspections can significantly reduce the difficulty and risk of manual inspections.

However, this new charging method has also sparked discussions about safety. If an accident occurs during the charging process of a drone, it may cause damage to the power line, thereby affecting the power supply of the entire region. At the same time, as a more reliable charging option, the drone charging board is still considered a viable alternative despite requiring additional infrastructure construction.