Flyability, the Swiss firm finest recognized for making drones that may safely stumble upon issues as a consequence of its distinctive cage design, simply gave its flagship Elios 3 drone one thing that a lot of its rivals can’t match: probably limitless flight time.
The corporate this week unveiled the Elios 3 Tether Energy Unit, a wall-pluggable floor energy system that sends juice up a 50-meter Kevlar-reinforced cable. That permits steady operation with out mid-mission battery swaps. The announcement coincides with the Industrial UAV Expo in Las Vegas this week, the place the Flyability tether system made its public debut.
“Our tether gives steady energy, so the drone may fly without end,” Eloise McMinn Mitchell, Flyability’s vertical advertising supervisor stated in an interview with The Drone Woman. After all, there are sensible limitations: pilots normally want a break after half-hour, and the onboard reminiscence maxes out after about two hours of information seize.
By comparability, Flyability’s lately launched high-capacity battery gives as much as 17 minutes of flight. The tether unit doesn’t substitute batteries — drones nonetheless ship with them by default — however for industries that demand hours of nonstop knowledge assortment, tethering is now on the desk.
Tackling the tether downside
Drones on tethers aren’t new (Cyphy famously included tethers of their drones, which had been in the end acquired by FLIR). Alas, tethers are notoriously awkward to fly in complicated environments (like darkish, underground tunnels, the place Flyability’s drones had been made to fly in). Flyability claims it’s solved that with an anti-flip swivel that connects the tether to the drone. The swivel permits the cable to mount from any angle with out destabilizing the plane, so pilots don’t must obsess over line stress.
“The drone flies as if it had been untethered,” Mitchell stated. “Opponents don’t but have an equal function, which suggests their pilots always have to trace the tether’s place to keep away from crashes.”
The cable itself is 50 meters (164 toes) lengthy, Kevlar-reinforced with a 50-kilogram tensile energy, and designed to outlive 1000’s of abrasion cycles in opposition to sharp edges. It’s not the longest tether available on the market, however Flyability emphasizes its sturdiness and portability. The unit packs right into a wheeled case and helps 100–240V AC enter, making it globally suitable.
Why tether, why now?
Mitchell says the push to construct a Flyability tether got here from buyer ache factors. New drone pilots usually discover managing flight time disturbing, and mission-critical purposes like ultrasonic thickness (UT) testing demand longer flights. Flyability launched its UT payload in 2024, however battery limits capped its usefulness.
“The tether was our lacking piece within the non-destructive testing market,” Mitchell stated. “It makes the Elios 3 totally prepared for difficult NDT missions.”
Oil and gasoline is already a key vertical, and Flyability lately ran exams with Shell on an offshore platform. Regardless of the Elios being designed for indoor inspection, the tether enabled it to map difficult-to-access buildings on the underside of a deck. Mining, energy era, maritime and utility infrastructure are additionally anticipated to be sturdy adopters.
Autonomy, ROI, and what’s subsequent past the Flyability tether
Whereas Flyability isn’t disclosing pricing of the Flyability tether, Mitchell stated it’s positioned as a premium accent slightly than a default. Present Elios 3 customers can add it to their kits, and new patrons can customise bundles that blend and match tether items, high-capacity batteries, and payloads.
Flyability argues the ROI case is easy: tethering reduces downtime, accelerates inspections, and removes human staff from hazardous confined areas.
“We’re anticipating a large influence, particularly when inspecting giant property like ship hulls and tanks the place hours of flight are required,” Mitchell stated.
The tether additionally performs into Flyability’s long-term purpose of extra autonomous operations. With flight time constraints gone, the corporate can give attention to scaling up its analytics software program. Future developments may embody instruments to check inspection knowledge throughout flights.
The larger image
In a market the place uptime equates to security and price financial savings, the Flyability tether’s pitch of “limitless” flight is sure to resonate.
The Elios 3 tether will likely be on show this week in Las Vegas on the Industrial UAV Expo and once more at different 2025 drone occasions corresponding to in Milan at GasTech. There are additionally regional “DroneDays” demos deliberate later this yr in Chile and Australia.
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