Overcome your limits with

Tether Technology

Fast technological developments have opened up new possible applications for drones and aerial robotics, and many more are already on their way. One of them could be the application you’re interested in.

What's a Multi-Drone-Tethered System?

A Multi–Drone-Tethered System consists of:

  • Drone - or group of drones at the end of a tether that performs a specific task, the End-Effector.
  • Tether that may be held up by more drones, that provides power and/or substances to the End-Effector Drone.
  • Ground Power Station that provides and converts power, allows communication between the drone and the Ground Control Station.

Due to the reliability of tethered connections, tethered drones are currently mostly used for aerial observation and telecommunication. Yet, you can operate them remotely and perform different specific tasks in various applications and all kinds of terrain, even the most unaccessible.

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Scheme of several drones and their purpose of use on a tether

Untethered Drones vs. Tethered Drones

For commercial purposes, untethered drones present substantial limitations to your projects and business. As time is precious, any time recharging or swapping batteries in the field is inefficient.

No
Limits

Current tethered drones are limited to a single drone on a single tether, which limits the drone in its operations and use cases.
Kiteswarms multi-drone tethered system can operate over and around obstacles.

Long
Flight Time

An untethered hovering drone flight ceiling spans between 20 and 40 minutes. This turns to be limiting and sometimes risky in continuous applications of drone technology over extended periods.
A tethered drone can be in the air for an indefinite time as it’s powered by the ground power station through the tether.

Reliability
and Safety

If the flight control system of an untethered drone goes haywire, it may fly away uncontrolled. As drones grow more powerful and heavier, safety is critical.
A tethered drone can be held in a safe airspace zone which guarantees a restricted, controlled radius with a maximum distance to the ground station, which detects emergencies and reels it back immediately.

Large Scale
Use

Any untethered drone requires an individual pilot to fly it.
Although tethered drones require a pilot too, our tethered-chain multicopter system can also be supervised by a single pilot.

Safe
Data Transfer

Using a WiFi connection, untethered drones may lose their data links and expose your data to external threats.
Tethered drones use a closed system between ground and aircraft, so your data aren’t vulnerable to scamming or hacking attacks. Last but not the least, the fewer the signals, the easier it’s for the receiver to distinguish them.
Easy
Compliance
Untethered drones can potentially reach any place and record anything. This translates to compliance with a larger body of regulations.
Tethered drones, instead, fly within a limited spatial area defined by the length of the tether, so regulations are not as strict.
Employee assembling a drone

Kiteswarms Tethered Drone Technology

At Kiteswarms we offer you all this and more. We offer you the possibility to customize the tethered drone system – or swarm of drones – to your own specific needs. Thanks to our extensive experience in AWE, we’re able to deliver you a complete framework of hardware, embedded and control software technology.

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Regulations on Tethered Drones

Legislation around tethered drones is flexible as several rules on commercial drones do not apply. In some countries, tethered drones are not classified as drones given their stationery positioning while connected to the ground. In other countries, users of tethered drone systems are not mandated to have them registered as their free-flying counterparts.

Read more here

EASA Regulations
FAA Regulations

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