New Type of Drone Power

Hydrogen-Powered Drones

     Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, can only stay in the air for around 20 minutes and have a charge time of one to two hours. What if someone told you that there is a better way? Well Intelligent Energy, a UK-based power technology company, has created  hydrogen-powered drones. These drone can stay in the air for up to two hours, six times the normally amount, and only take minutes to charge. The device that does this is a fuel tank on the bottom of the drone. 

     The extended flight time and shortened recharge time will prove handy for people mapping out an area or searching for someone/something. It will mainly affect people in the oil, gas, mapping, and agriculture fields but will also allow regular people to enjoy more time flying instead of more time grounded. Another thing that this will be good for is for movies and other television uses. The drone can stay out longer to film more at a time and will charge quickly so that there aren't long breaks in the filming. Intelligent Energy is hoping to get a commercial version by 2017.

Drones-v.s.-Poachers

Drones-v.s.-Poachers

     Drones can be used for many things, including filming, war, and possibly deliveries, but these new drones protect wildlife. The Lindbergh Foundation made an Air Shepherd program that catches poachers who are endangering elephants and rhinos. This program is a fleet of unmanned drones. In South Africa, the Air Shepard drones will go through months of training and then be put out in popular areas for poaching. The drones will be able to fly silently and have infrared scanners. This will allow them to spot without being spotted. When the drone spots a poacher, rangers will be sent out to catch them. If they try and run, then the drone will follow them. When the testing for the Air Shepard drones was happening, most poachers stopped poaching because they were afraid of being caught. Air Shepard hopes to be used in many other countries and right now is discussing possibilities with officials in five other country's.      

Drone Defense #2

New Drone Defense

There are a variety of ways that are being created to take down drones. There is the Tokyo police interceptor drone and Michigan Tech's "Robotic Falcon" to start off, along with using the radio waves and even the idea to use live birds. What do all of these defenses have in common? Well, they all are areal combat (attack in the air) opposed to ground combat.

     This new way to take down drones created by English engineers will not be based off of areal combat and bring down the drone in one piece. It is called to SkyWall 100 and it shoots projectiles from the ground at the drone. It launches nets with a parachute attached at the drone that can cover a football field. The launcher fires by using a smart scope that tells to were exactly to aim and fire. It weighs 22 pounds and is fired from your shoulder (sits on shoulder). It is expected to be available by the end of the year.    

Sharks and Drones

Drones Search for Sharks

     In Australia, authority's are using drones to search for sharks and help swimmers that are threatened by them. This week a trial program was started that is camera-equipped drones patrolling the coast line of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Last year there were 14 shark attacks there, only one death, and the states authorities there want technology to prevent future shark attacks.

One of the trial drones

     "Little Ripper" is the name of the Vapor 55 drone that is being trialed and the trial costs $180,000. The Little Ripper has a high definition camera that can send its footage straight to computers while it is flying. It also has a rescue pod to drop down to people in an emergency. The pod includes shark repellant, medical equipment, and a three person raft. This drone can stay flying for up to 150 minutes and researchers are even working on a way to allow this drone to identify what kind of shark it sees.

     Brian Hartzer, chief executive of Westpac, is funding the trial. He says that there are 17 trial drones that he hopes people will like and if they do, then 40 more drones will be deployed.