GLS-backed student team to develop in-air cargo drone charging system

A team of students at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, known as “Aero Team Eindhoven,” is developing a system that will perform in-air battery swaps for cargo drones. Aero Team Eindhoven has received sponsorship from European logistics company GLS to develop the mid-air recharging system in three years, the team told Cargo Facts . [caption id="attachment_56860746" align="alignright" width="460"] The team is building a VTOL cargo drone capable of carrying up to 2 kg. (Photo/Aero Team Eindhoven).[/caption] The team is currently building a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) cargo drone capable of carrying payloads of up to 2 kg at speeds of 37 knots. The drone will have a battery life of an hour and a half on a single charge. Test flights and ground demonstrations of battery swaps of the new cargo drone will begin during the current academic year, Aero Team Eindhoven told Cargo Facts . Next year, the group will develop a new, separate drone capable of performing a battery swap with the cargo drone in flight and then spend an additional year to build the communications between the two drones, Aero Team Eindhoven added. University partnerships with drone technology developers have become increasingly common. Earlier this month, Lubbock, Texas-based Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center announced its partnership with a university consortium to implement the use of drone technology for medical transport with drones engineered at the university, according to local reports. The concept of using two different drones per cargo flight is at the forefront of developing drone technology. Los Angeles-based Talyn Air is currently working toward the first flight of its new drone platform in Q1 2023 . That system will utilize two separate aircraft for VTOL operation and the cruise portions of flight.

GLS-backed student team to develop in-air cargo drone charging system

The system is expected to be developed in 3 years

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