Solar Drones Could Replace Hundreds of Cell Towers

Titan Aerospace presented its Solara 50 and Solara 60 prototyles at the Association of Unmanned Systems International Conference in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of this month. They explained a new use for these solar drones that doesn’t involve spying or killing contraptions. Titan believes they could use these drones as a way to improve telecommunications.

Localytics reported that 87% of American adults own a cell phone. With this number increasing daily, there is a need for cell phone towers to be built in order to keep up with this demand. Clean Energy Authority shared that Maximus Yaney, the chief technical officer for Titan, said, ““What we’re focusing on from the capability perspective is cell tower in the sky scenario where you can put a 4G repeater in there and it replaces literally 100 cell towers.”

This solar-powered drone is expected to be available for the commercial market sometime in 2014. The Solara 50 has, “3000 solar cells cover the upper wing surface, the elevator and the horizontal stabilizer. Combined they can generate up to 7 kilowatts of power. Extra energy generated during the day is stored in lithium ion batteries located inside the wing,” according to Titan Aerospace.

This way the unmanned aircraft will absorb and save enough solar power during the daylight hours to operate the drone during the night. Other reports about the Titan drones suggest that they would most likely stay in orbit for about five years before landing for maintenance repairs. That means they will be easier to remove from orbit than traditional satellites. (Source: Clean Energy Authority)

The Titan Aerospace team is a group of world-class aeronautical engineers and fabricators who are singularly committed to enabling the atmospheric satellite revolution.