OREANDA-NEWS  Russian developers have created and brought to market a mobile charging station for drones, which is remotely installed directly on the wires of high-voltage power lines, Pavel Kamnev, commercial director of the Laboratory of the Future company, told reporters.

The development of "Triangle" was first presented at the design and educational intensive "Archipelago 2023", which takes place in Novosibirsk from July 28 to August 7. It is a platform for charging drones on power lines with a voltage of 35-110-222 kilovolts. The system accepts the drone with a special grabbing mechanism and charges it. "One of the new directions that we have mastered is the charging system from phase wires… We are extremely interested in having a charging infrastructure for drones. We propose to create a network of charging stations, which will be based on the infrastructure that already exists today – there are power lines in every city, every region, they are everywhere. Such infrastructure can be deployed as quickly as possible," Kamnev said.

He explained that the stations are designed to recharge common small-sized unmanned aerial vehicles, mainly the DJI line. They are charged from the pad, the power to which comes directly from the phase wire. At the same time, the platforms themselves may include various attachments: video surveillance cameras, signal repeaters, drone recognition stations in the sky, and so on.

According to the developer, the station can power the batteries installed on it not only from power lines, but also from solar panels. After charging the batteries, it can charge the drone that landed on the platform. Engineers have developed a machine vision technology that allows you to determine the position of the wire, its swing and form a landing task for the drone to land on the wire. The equipment itself is also installed on the wires by drones without direct human involvement.

"To date, we are working on a request from the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the formation of charging systems to work during the survey of forests and the search for people. This is necessary to expand the functionality of drones and not return them halfway back. A charging system is left on the nearest power line, a grouping of drones is formed that can fly and recharge ... Also, for example, drones that fly a long distance can use such stations for charging," Kamnev added.

The press service of the National Technology Initiative added that the estimated cost of charging is 100 thousand rubles. At the same time, the solution has no analogues in the world and Russian markets.