Self-navigated solar-powered drone flying coast-to-coast.

[Gleb Gamow]

Do you think it's possible? I believe so via a modified off-the-shelf drone equipped with solar panels and navigating software.

Program it to rest or recharge on flat (or slightly inclined) roofs, fields, etc.
Program it to recognize a threat, e.g., something greater than a certain size approaching, whereupon it powers up and takes off to another rest area if not yet fully charged.
Program it to make sure it has enough power in reserve for at least two repositionings at night if approached.
Program GPS parameters to fly mostly away from heavily populated areas.
Program it to communicate its whereabouts, with a live video stream being an optimal choice.

Launch when it looks like the projected path will have favorable weather conditions.

Would be great if there's a prize attach to such an endeavor for the first ever successful documented flight so to encourage competition perhaps from University alongside private entities. Or, a yearly contest to see who could fly their drone the furthest without any further input after its launched, with flying coast to coast being the goal. Time to accomplish the feat is not of importance, for it will take days to complete.

There could be an exception to the no-interference rule for ONLY simple repairs like motors or blades wearing out, but not the solar panels or modifying any programs.

Your thoughts.

[jacktheking]

I thought of solar-powered drone before. However, it seem like a hard to make. A solar panel is somewhat heavy and it require a very strong sunlight to power it. We will have to wait for a more successful solar charging for phone before we can see a solar-powered drone that can fly from coast to coast.

[Gleb Gamow]

I thought of solar-powered drone before. However, it seem like a hard to make. A solar panel is somewhat heavy and it require a very strong sunlight to power it. We will have to wait for a more successful solar charging for phone before we can see a solar-powered drone that can fly from coast to coast.

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/solar-drone-experiments-how-much-more-battery-life-do-you-get-by

Solar Drone - frame and solar panel test flight

[nergopmikos]

Do you think it's possible? I believe so via a modified off-the-shelf drone equipped with solar panels and navigating software.

Program it to rest or recharge on flat (or slightly inclined) roofs, fields, etc.
Program it to recognize a threat, e.g., something greater than a certain size approaching, whereupon it powers up and takes off to another rest area if not yet fully charged.
Program it to make sure it has enough power in reserve for at least two repositionings at night if approached.
Program GPS parameters to fly mostly away from heavily populated areas.
Program it to communicate its whereabouts, with a live video stream being an optimal choice.

Launch when it looks like the projected path will have favorable weather conditions.

Would be great if there's a prize attach to such an endeavor for the first ever successful documented flight so to encourage competition perhaps from University alongside private entities. Or, a yearly contest to see who could fly their drone the furthest without any further input after its launched, with flying coast to coast being the goal. Time to accomplish the feat is not of importance, for it will take days to complete.

There could be an exception to the no-interference rule for ONLY simple repairs like motors or blades wearing out, but not the solar panels or modifying any programs.

Your thoughts.

The new drone that can fly for years on solar power. Look here article http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36788865 Flying drone with solar panels have some y advantages over conventional aircraft. A year ago, I bought mini quadcopter http://jonsguide.org/best-top-mini-quadcopter-reviews/, now it`s my Solar Drone Experiments http://dronologue.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/solar-drone.jpg
How much more battery life do you get by adding to your drone solar panels? I connected the solar array in parallel to the battery, and placed a Diode to the end drone of the circuit to prevent the battery from feeding the solar array. You need charge the battery a bit.

[ZACHM]

This does sound like it could be a really cool competition. It seems like something Google would sponsor.

The time could another factor in the competition, have a deadline for the competition to end, but even if someone makes it other people can keep trying until the end of the competition, they just need to do it faster to win.

My estimate for time would be something like this: assume 15 mph speed for 10 minutes on full charge (keeping some in reserve) so 3.75 miles per trip. I'm going to assume total trip would be about 2700 miles so 2700 miles/ 3.75 miles per trip = 720 trips. Probably would take roughly 3 hours for a charge, so total time would be
(720 trips x 10 minutes) + (720 trips x 3 hours per charge x 60 minutes/hour) = 136800 minutes or 2280 hours or 95 days.

I think it would be best to start in Florida and head to California, stay further south to increase sun exposure.

The real key to the whole thing would be the programming, not the hardware. You would also want it to be able to connect to the internet via LTE and download weather reports so it would know not to fly into a storm, etc.

[Gleb Gamow]

Do you think it's possible? I believe so via a modified off-the-shelf drone equipped with solar panels and navigating software.

Program it to rest or recharge on flat (or slightly inclined) roofs, fields, etc.
Program it to recognize a threat, e.g., something greater than a certain size approaching, whereupon it powers up and takes off to another rest area if not yet fully charged.
Program it to make sure it has enough power in reserve for at least two repositionings at night if approached.
Program GPS parameters to fly mostly away from heavily populated areas.
Program it to communicate its whereabouts, with a live video stream being an optimal choice.

Launch when it looks like the projected path will have favorable weather conditions.

Would be great if there's a prize attach to such an endeavor for the first ever successful documented flight so to encourage competition perhaps from University alongside private entities. Or, a yearly contest to see who could fly their drone the furthest without any further input after its launched, with flying coast to coast being the goal. Time to accomplish the feat is not of importance, for it will take days to complete.

There could be an exception to the no-interference rule for ONLY simple repairs like motors or blades wearing out, but not the solar panels or modifying any programs.

Your thoughts.

The new drone that can fly for years on solar power. Look here article http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36788865 Flying drone with solar panels have some y advantages over conventional aircraft. A year ago, I bought mini quadcopter http://jonsguide.org/best-top-mini-quadcopter-reviews/, now it`s my Solar Drone Experiments
How much more battery life do you get by adding to your drone solar panels? I connected the solar array in parallel to the battery, and placed a Diode to the end drone of the circuit to prevent the battery from feeding the solar array. You need charge the battery a bit.

I'd say somebody's huntin' my postin' history. Nice first post, bud.