has officially launched Europe’s first hydrogen powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – the e-Drone Zero is a long endurance quadcopter with a compact package, managed by an advanced Artificial Intelligence-powered drone operating system. It is fine-tuned to pioneer Intelligent Productivity, advanced security and the newest available technologies.
As a result of a SKYCORP partner company seeking to extend the flight-time of a small commercial drone by over three times that of traditional Lithium-ion Polymer batteries, hydrogen fuel cells were selected as an alternative power source. In addition to greatly improved flight-time, the use of hydrogen fuel cells as the drone power source provides less downtime due to quick refuelling and increased payload capabilities.
The aim became to maximise productivity, capabilities, security and safety features of the product. with the highly automated AI operating system capable of running complex operations while advanced security is provided via NATO validated military level encryption. Additional safety features include computer vision assisted obstacle avoidance and various failure management features.
Marek Alliksoo, CEO at SKYCORP, said: “It’s great to be going to the limits of current drone capabilities to see how far you can push, all you need is a great team, fantastic partners who’ve been doing the same in their respective fields and then putting it all together. Although this is still just a first step in enabling some of the dreams of what the future could hold.“
Applications for the e-Drone Zero range from Surveillance & Security to demanding Survey, Mapping and Inspection tasks in a wide range of environments, however SKYCORP expects to see the scope of use widened as the number of customers increases.
Marek Alliksoo added: “We’ve already started working with one of the most innovative Mobile Mapping companies around to test the advantages of combining car and drone based results on their platform. Considering what they have in store for the future of Smart Cities it would be fantastic to be able to help out.“
Source: Press Release