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Tethered flight

Posted by Todd Brown on January 13, 2020 at 10:17am

As briefly as possible… My goal is to have a UAV on my boat that is connected to a power tether and provides a bird’s eye view. Basically just fly straight up and follow the movement of the boat. Maybe 100-150 feet height max.

I’m aware of tethered systems out there and they range in the $20k to $50k price range… I don’t need this that badly lol.

Ideally, I would be able to use the boat’s alternator as the initial source of power, even if I have to upgrade to a higher output alternator.

My initial thoughts are some kind of converter to boost the 12-14V DC way up at the base and then convert it back at the drone itself. This is where I am stuck… Trying to get some help from people who have a bit more expertise in this area.

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Replies

  • Todd Brown January 14, 2020 at 6:43pm

    This is what I've been having trouble locating: something to step up the voltage to a few hundred volts. Do you know of a particular device?

    Andre K. said:

    You need to engage a decent electronics engineer, it's trivial to step up the he voltage onboard the ship to a few hundred volts, and then reduce it onboard the UAV to whatever it needs.
    Take tethered Solo kit as inspiration.
    Tethered flight
    As briefly as possible… My goal is to have a UAV on my boat that is connected to a power tether and provides a bird’s eye view. Basically just fly st…
  • Andre K. January 14, 2020 at 9:23am
    You need to engage a decent electronics engineer, it's trivial to step up the he voltage onboard the ship to a few hundred volts, and then reduce it onboard the UAV to whatever it needs.
    Take tethered Solo kit as inspiration.
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