UAVs are multivalent tools that can perform more and more professional applications. Thanks to their stability, mobility and lifting capability, our drones are already operated on a broad range of missions from aerial surveillance to airborne LiDar scanning.
UAVs success rely on the cost reduction together with the speed of implementation they offer.
In some cases, aerial operations are requiring a long effective flight time of a couple of hours, or even more. Even if several improvements have been made lately in this area, drone batteries are remaining the key-limiting factor on UAVs flight time.
This is why AltiGator successfully tested an innovative solution, the SAFE-T from Elistair in order to offer a brand new option to its systems: tethered flights.
In other words, it is now possible to operate an AltiGator drone for an unlimited flight time and at a height of up to 100m AGL.
In such case, the UAV is plugged to a ground generator from which it continuously receives electric power to operate. Therefore the flying time of the UAV becomes virtually unlimited.
This option allows countless opportunities in several new domains:
Events management (cultural events, sport events, demonstrations, event parades, etc.)- Traffic management
- Air quality monitoring
- Industrial sites surveillance
- Telecommunication
- Search & Rescue operations management
- Live aerial broadcast
- UAV surveillance missions
Thanks to this tethered flight technology, it is now possible to conduct missions without breaks as the drone never runs out of battery. In addition to that, it remains an extremely mobile solution, combining the advantages of a fixed camera with a useful flexibility on its position (height, place, quick deploy, etc).
The use of Elistair SAFE-T together with a XENA Observer, aerial surveillance UAV was made for this test. However, any AltiGator system can be equipped to operate with the tethered flight technology.
