Tethered UASs for naval, surveillance applications in trial with U.S. Navy
NewsOctober 02, 2020
ESSINGTON, Penn. Aerospace company Dragonfly Pictures Inc. (DPI) and power component maker Vicor (Andover, Massachusetts) are currently trialling with the U.S. Navy a different class of unmanned aerial system (UAS) or drone: A hover-in-place tethered drone that is powered by an electrical cord connected to a base station.
DPI is using the Vicor high-voltage and low-profile bus converter module (BCM) within its military/industrial-grade unmanned multirotor aerial relay (UMAR) to, say company officials, enable high-efficiency conversion (98%) only 2% losses and heat from 800 V to 50 V.
DPI’s tethered multirotor drones are designed to track and follow mobile host platforms including ships, boats, trucks, and other unmanned surface/ground vehicles. These drones are currently being qualified for use by the U.S. Navy in marine/maritime environments for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); communications, and video applications.
