• The recharging concept described in the patent involves connecting the drone to a power source on the ground, a vehicle or a building via a tether, which recharges the UAV while it floats in mid-air. Airships and other buoyant drones can float in this way without the need for power, allowing them to be recharged fully before continuing their journey.
  • The development could be highly significant, enabling drones to be used for long-distance work such as cargo deliveries or climate monitoring, and for all-day use such as filming and local food delivery.
  • If the technology is able to be developed for commercial use, it could mark a shift in drone use away from the wildly common quadcopter design, and towards what the patent describes as “electrically powered buoyant aircraft”.

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