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SPIE 2011: Laser solution for long-endurance UAVs
A US company pioneering the use of lasers to recharge the batteries of UAVs in flight says such a system could be potentially fielded as early as next year.
LaserMotive is demonstrating the ability to 'power beam' via laser several UAV aircraft, including rotary-wing vehicles, at the 2011 SPIE Defence Security & Sensing exposition in Orlando.
In recent experiments the company was able to keep a rotary-wing quadrocopter UAV constantly airborne for 12 hours. The machine only had a battery endurance of five minutes and would return to the beam in-flight and recharge.
LaserMotive president, Tom Nugent, said: 'We see this system having a lot of potential. Light weight UAVs protecting a convoy can be kept in the air all day - they can charge up using our system, go off and investigate a bridge up ahead, and return to the convoy for more power, rather than land and be retrieved which can be very dangerous for the troops.'
Nugent said the company is working on a ruggedised laser system that could be fitted to a HMMWV or an MRAP vehicle and run off a generator, allowing them potentially ground-to-air refuel UAVs whilst on the move.
Nugent said that small UAVs such as the AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven or Puma UAS platforms would be ideal candidates for modification, allowing them to use the power beam system.
A modified solar panel would be fitted to the underside of the aircraft to receive the focused beam from the laser. Just a few minutes charge from the movable beam would be enough to raise the endurance of the craft.
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