tl;dr: drones can be tethered by fiber optic cables. The cable provides jam-proof communication between the drone and the operator; and it also supplies power to the drone so it doesn't need a massive battery pack and can stay airborne longer.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Fiber optic cable can’t supply power.

They could if it was a copper wire, but then it’s even heavier.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (3 children)

According to the article:

In the case of drones, the fiber optic cable provides a direct, stable, and high-capacity link for both power and data transmission. [...] The fiber optic cable also supplies power to the drone, meaning the UAV doesn’t need a huge battery onboard.

[–] lurklurk 13 points 6 days ago

There's no way that's correct though, with current technology

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Maybe this is why we shouldn't have AI write articles. Does the drone have a solar panel on the other end of the cable?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Sadly, the article has been written by a non-competent person.

I can claim to be a competent person and explain a bit.

At a drone's own voltage (4..8 lithium cells in series), powering an FPV attack drone requires 2 wires of 2,5 - 4,0 square millimeters of thickness. One meter of this pair of wires weighs about 50 grams. One kilometer would weigh 50 kilograms, but would exhibit a voltage drop proportional to length, so in reality, you'd need to increase the diameter several times.

If one was into physical experiments, using super high voltage and thinner wires, this could be brought down, but voltage converters on both ends would gain weight and insulation thickness would have to increase: as you raise voltage in an electrical cable (e.g. into kilovolts) current starts arcing across air gaps and breaking though insulation. That's why high voltage power lines have long ceramic / glass insulators. :) So building a hypothetical "330 kilovolt drone" would be the last thing anyone would do. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Thank you, that was helpful.