The underwater drone market continues to grow, with an increasing number of consumers looking to underwater drones for personal use.
It's no longer just the military and scientists etc, who are interested in using them for activities like observing underwater volcanoes, investigating unexplored areas of the ocean, or tracking whales etc. Now there are many people out there who want to use them in order to film videos, to document their travels in a new way, and to explore under the water on their own.
One Interesting drone development...
The US navy is now reportedly working on the Flying Sea Glider (see image above); the development of a pelican-like drone that will be able to be dropped from a plane and then dive into the water. They expect to be testing their full sized model by sometime next year.
The drone will weigh around 30 kilograms, will be able to fly a distance more than 150km, and will have the ability to convert into a submarine when it lands in the water. Once the drone gets in the water, it will allegedly be able to travel up to depths of around 200 meters.
The hope is that one day groups of these sorts of submarine drones might be used to help locate a crashed airplane or to possibly track an oil spill. The navy is also allegedly using them in order to try and locate mines and to survey underwater obstacles.
They don't just want to be able to drop the drone and have it turn into a submarine and glide into the water but they also want it to be able to then take off from the water and fly. But of course that task is proving to be a somewhat tricky one and it will be interesting to see what development they come up with to release by next year.
The underwater drones aren't the only exciting drone project that we've seen mentioned that the navy might be working on either. There has also been mention of them wanting to develop swarms of micro drones that would work together in unison to carry out some mission. And we've already seen what this might look like. The idea of many drones working together in unison is something that has already been unveiled to the world, during the Superbowl halftime show, and at a variety of festivals and celebrations.
At the moment, there are a myriad of different underwater drones available to be purchased and you could spend anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on what sort of drone you want to go with.
The navy has already been successful with a small test version of the Flying Sea Glider but they won't have a full sized version of it ready to unveil until sometime next year.
Pics:
Dr Dan Edwards/Naval Research Laboratory
Pixabay
Intel
Sources:
http://www.janes.com/article/69319/navy-league-2017-nrl-furthers-flying-sea-glider-effort
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2139875-next-gen-drones-will-fly-and-dive-into-the-sea-like-pelicans/
https://defensesystems.com/articles/2017/04/17/cicada.aspx
https://steemit.com/technology/@doitvoluntarily/the-drone-that-fits-into-the-palm-of-your-hand
http://www.shoppersshop.com/intel-drones-formed-american-flag-and-pepsi-logo-at-20720171
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Navy Looks To Using Swarms of Palm-Sized Drones
https://steemit.com/technology/@doitvoluntarily/navy-looks-to-using-swarms-of-palm-sized-drones