Skip to main content

Will the VTOL aircraft be completely replaced by drones?

The first flight of the VTOL aircraft was in 1907, over a century has passed, and it is still active in the stage of different industries, such as shooting amazing videos for films, recording footage for mapping software, delivering cargo and packages for logistics, etc.


While the unmanned aerial vehicle, drones, occurred in 1849, even earlier than the VTOL, but did not glow until recently after commercial applications stop being its major and only stage, its expanding speed is much faster than the VTOL aircraft due to the compact structure, easy to use remote controlling platforms and the affordable price. What stops it from completely replacing the VTOL aircraft is the limited flight time, which cannot be fixed by replacing or changing some internal elements before a more powerful energy container is developed to replace the current batteries.



The comparison is clear, between the flight time, size, and price.

So the market activates its influence and divides into two big portions the VTOL and drones based on the flight time requirement mostly. But each of them is trying to expand its territories by reducing its disadvantage, like size, and price. Now there are smaller and cheaper VTOL drones with shorter flight times (like the Autel Dragonfish), and bigger drones with longer flight times and a little bit more expensive (like the DJI Matrice 300). Their applications’ boundary gets blurrier day by day, and all struggle to survive. We can find more and more drones being used for photography, inspection, surveillance, emergency, etc. We can also find some VTOL drones being applied for civilian applications, such as coastal patrolling, first response, and disaster data collection for the insurance company.

The core issue is about the power, if the drone could be free from the power limit, it would steal more opportunities from the VTOL. However, there is no sign of a revolutionary battery technology coming, only several drone charging docks are developed, which brings potential threats to the VTOL aircraft’s market share but is not deadly. Because the flight time of a drone is still the same, for large-area continuous surveying work, only the VTOL can do the job.

Yes, the VTOL aircraft is on the decline, some company already given up on it, such as the Parrot, but it will keep lingering before the new power-containing technology came.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 autonomous drone charging and docking stations

Auto mated drone docks are entering into unprecedented competition before the final release of the DJI dock. All these drone docking and charging stations share the same major features including automatic takeoff for carrying out BVOL flight missions, then automated landing and charging the drone for a new round of flight missions.   Some drone charging dock companies has its self-developed drone with a variety of flight times and payload capacities, such as the Sunflower labs, Skydio, Percepto, Easy Aerial, and Dronehub. Some drone dock providers only offer the hardware part, like HEISHA Tech, Skycharge, Hextronics, IDRONEIMAGES, and HIVE Droneport. Not all of these autonomous drone charging dock manufacturers are using the drone battery charging solution, some are taking the battery swapping technology, including Hextronics, Dronehub, and Hive Droneport. Here is the list:   1.  Percepto (2014, USA & Israel, <  2 00 employees) The autonomous Inspection ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 5 automated security drone systems

Security drone systems are rising in speed much faster than before as the requirement for autonomous solutions grows. In some regions, the covid-19 is shaking the stability of people’s daily life, and riots and violence are increasing. Which is boosting the demand for security drone systems.    What matters most to a security drone system? Many companies are endeavoring the progress of autonomous drone systems, but the harsh reality is it may still take a while before a fully autonomous drone system is complete like the unmanned car, there is a giant step exists between 99% and 100% in this case.  No matter how autonomous a drone can make, controlling the flight mission relies on software, which requires humans to trigger it and review the received data.    A. Long time on duty (night vision)  B. Long-range covered C. Quick automated recharge of the drone   1. Sunflower labs (2016, USA & Switzerland, < 50 employees)   Sunflower Labs is one...
Post a Comment
Read more

Skycharge VS HEISHA drone charging pad

There are several drone charging companies arise in recent years, Skycharge is one of the few that stands for over seven years, while HEISHA is a newcomer, let's make some comparisons between them.   The most obvious part is the drone centering process that the HEISHA drone charging pad requires while Skycharge ' s doesn ' t as dozens of conductors are spread on the Skycharge drone charging pad, and HEISHA ' s only has a few conductors in each side of the landing gears, maybe that ' s one of the reasons make HEISHA drone charging pad cheaper than the Skycharge ' s. Image resource:  https://skycharge.de/ Image resource:  https://www.heishatech.com/   S ky charge HEISHA Work environment Indoor/outdoor Indoor/outdoor Charging  time (charge Mavic 2 fully) 90 minutes 30 minutes Charging method Conductive charging Conductive charging Retrofit Required Required Compatible drones DJI, Parrot DJI, Skydio, 3DR, Propel, SYMA, Sky Viper Material Stainless steel Glass fiber ...
Post a Comment
Read more