UAV Power Links
Users of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have a strong desire to improve their flight endurance, which is limited by on-board energy storage. LaserMotive’s UAV Power Link is an enabling technology, freeing UAVs from any need to land and recharge their batteries.
Multi-mission UAV, recharging in between missions.
The Power Link uses Power Beaming to send a beam of light from a ground station to a receiver on the UAV, where the light is converted into electricity for use on the UAV.
Our Wireless Power for UAVs White Paper goes into detail about methods and options for using Power Beaming to dramatically increase the endurance of UAVs.
“Eternal” UAVs can act as low-cost, low-altitude geostationary satellites, providing surveillance and communications continuously over a large area, as shown in the image at right.
When UAVs need to fly beyond even the range of the power link, they can use on-board storage to operate and then fly within range of a power link to recharge in flight.