Recently, scientists have developed a method for transferring power, to a drone while it is flying, wirelessly.

This is a huge discovery and in theory will allow flying drones to stay airborne for a longer period of time, by simply hovering over a ground support vehicle to recharge the drone. This would open up new potential applications in the industrial world.  The technology the scientists use is called inductive coupling, it is two copper coils are tuned into one another, using electronics, which enables the wireless exchange of power at a certain frequency. They have reported that scientists have been experimenting with this technology for decades, but have not been able to wirelessly power flying technology.

Scientists from Imperial College London have removed the battery from an off-the-shelf mini-drone and demonstrated that they can wirelessly transfer power to it using inductive coupling.

These scientists believe their demonstration is the first to show how this wireless charging method can be efficiently done with a flying object like a drone, potentially paving the way for wider use of the technology.

The scientists demonstrated their approach to researchers who bought an off-the-shelf drone. The drone was around 12 centimeters in diameter, and the drones electronics and they removed the battery. They made a copper foil ring, which will be receiving a antennae that encircles the drone’s casing. On the ground, will be a device made out of a circuit board that is connected to electronics and a power source, creating a magnetic field for the drone.

This is something the world should be excited for, its our technology advancing fast and efficiently.