Infini will Charge Mid-Air and Fly for a Year, Eliminating Surveillance Ships Costing Crores

Infini Ultra-Endurance Drone: A startup called Alteon Energy in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is developing a unique drone. This drone can fly for up to a year without landing or refuelling. This ultra-endurance drone, called Infini, aims to fly solely on wind, similar to the albatross, a sea bird. Albatrosses travel long distances using dynamic soaring, a technique in which they repeatedly move up and down between strong winds at high altitude and slower winds below. The Alteon team is trying to replicate this technique in a drone.

What Makes it Unique?

It is 3 meters long and weighs only 2.8 kg. Infini's onboard computers detect changing wind patterns. This allows the drone to fly in an S-shaped loop, drawing energy from the wind. During initial flights off the Karnataka coast, the drone flew for several hours without motors, powered solely by wind. The team claims that with improved design and the addition of solar film, this time could increase from hours to months and even beyond a year.

This will Help the Navy and Coast Guard

Alteon is being developed with the Indian Navy and Coast Guard in mind. Today, warships costing crores of rupees must remain at sea for weeks to monitor the country's 7,500 km-long coastline. The company says that for the same amount of money it costs to operate a frontline destroyer in a month, 17,000 Infini drones can fly, monitoring the entire coastline every 10 minutes at a lower cost.

ADS-B Transponder Installed

Each drone is equipped with a camera, satellite link, and an ADS-B transponder. After 300-400 days, when the battery runs out, it will glide into the sea and sink, eliminating the need for retrieval. Upon mass production, its price is estimated at around USD3,000.

Major Technical Challenges

However, several significant technical challenges remain. Keeping an extremely lightweight airframe safe during millions of high-G turns. Keeping a 2.8 kg drone airborne during monsoon and cyclone-like conditions. Long-range satellite communications using very little power and achieving airworthiness certification for a pilotless and unmanned system. If Alteon's technology is successful, it could revolutionize coastal surveillance, drug interdiction, disaster management, EEZ security, and search operations.

Source: Zee News