Energy Harvesting Mini Spy Planes
NewScientistTech – Miniaturize and automate these, let them talk to each other and you would have perpetually airborne surveillance swarms living off the decay of obsolete power grids. But until then:
The idea comes from the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in Dayton, Ohio, US, which wants to operate extended surveillance missions using remote-controlled planes with a wingspan of about a metre, but has been struggling to find a way to refuel to extend the plane’s limited flight duration.
So the AFRL is developing an electric motor-powered micro air vehicle (MAV) that can “harvest” energy when needed by attaching itself to a power line. It could even temporarily change its shape to look more like innocuous piece of trash hanging from the cable.
As an aside: It is kind of bizarre to think that headlines like this one will be common place in the next decade or two.
-Shlok
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