The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas happens to be the most important technology fair in the world and in it projects related to renewable energies take more and more prominence.
Drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS) They take more and more prominence in all areas and that makes it necessary to develop technologies that allow better designs, greater autonomy and cleaner uses from the energy point of view.
In this context and during the Las Vegas CES 2022Companies such as Iris Automation and Drone American have presented their unmanned drones powered by hydrogen fuel cells within the agreement signed with Doosan Mobility Innovation, owner of said technology.
This agreement will allow all parties to share resources and technology to test and evaluate drone platforms and infrastructure for BVLOS business operations (Beyond Visual Line of Sight), that is, beyond the visual range of the pilot. In these operations, the pilot does not have direct visual contact with the drone or is assisted by an observer.
The 5G, vital
BVLOS technology is already used with existing 4G networks, but it is expected that with the proliferation of 5G technology the implementation of this type of flights will begin to spread rapidly.
This is because 5G makes smart identification possible and tracking drones via cloud computing. In fact, Ericsson and Optus have already made their first flights with fully teleoperated drones.
This is how the first hydrogen fuel cell drone developed by Doosan and JOUAV works.
The combination of this type of technology with hydrogen as an energy source will allow much longer autonomies and ranges, to the point of making public and commercial flights possible.
This is due, among other things, to the fact that hydrogen fuel cell drones are powered by a much higher density source than traditional lithium-ion batteries, the current standard on most UAS flights today, without sacrificing zero emissions.