Limited battery capacity has been the primary brake on operating longer drone flights, but tech developed by a Washington state company may hold the key to powering UAV longer – perhaps indefinitely – through its remote charging application.
For now, the wireless power approach by Redmond-based Ossia is being marketed to business devices like smartphones, pads, and other mobile electronic equipment used in facilities such as retail outlets, warehouses, and factories. Its patented Cota Real Wireless Power transmitter essentially distributes electricity like Wi-Fi signals. Its RF smart antenna automatically keeps multiple connected devices charged without any user action, permitting connected objects to operate on constant in-coming power flows.
Before long, Ossia hopes to adapt Cota to remotely power drone flights as well, and thus extend UAV missions far beyond what batteries enable.
Last month Ossia received approval from regulators in the…
