In the case of drones, the fiber optic cable provides a direct, stable, and high-capacity link for both power and data transmission. [...] The fiber optic cable also supplies power to the drone, meaning the UAV doesn’t need a huge battery onboard.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I have to imagine the article is just wrong about this part, but maybe there's something I'm missing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Power Over Fiber "is a technology in which a fiber-optic cable carries optical power, which is used as an energy source rather than, or as well as, carrying data".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Now I'd recommend looking up how much power can be transported by the very few implementations out there, and how much they cost.

Anything coming close to being able to power a drone would need way thicker fibers, increasing the drone weight. Any too big bend would set the fiber on fire. And it costs so much that building a slightly bigger drone with more batteries is cheaper.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

To save people the click:

Commercial systems generally deliver about a watt at 10-20 meters, which of course drops with distance and depends on fiber quality. It also requires a separate fiber(pair) from the data fiber.

A small DJI burns about 100 watts

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