Facebook patents a drone that uses kites to stay afloat …

Facebook has filed a patent for a drone that could be kept afloat in the air with the help of two kites. The concept, dubbed a “double kite aerial vehicle” included the use of two kites tied together so that they could stay in the air at two different altitudes at the same time.

The drone could extend its flight time due to these kites with minimal fuel consumption. This move clearly shows Facebook’s interest in developing drones and is not unexpected as we have seen Facebook work on Aquila project earlier.

For the uninitiated, Project Aquila was a project. which was meant to deal with the problem of low internet connectivity by using large solar powered drones. The patent was published on May 30 and was filed in November of last year.

(The fair of Facebook’s artificial intelligence division is reportedly experimenting with robotics)

Representative image. Pixabay.

Looking at the concept of using kites to keep the drone flying is interesting as kites are lightweight and cost effective. This concept handles almost everything effectively compared to traditional aerial vehicles. Also, the drone could use solar energy to generate power in the same way that was used in the Aquila Project.

It has been speculated that this drone can be used in areas where there is a lack of adequate infrastructure to have better internet connectivity. Although in this case, there are still many questions that need to be answered, for example, how will these kites survive in the event of wind, rain or with other objects in the air, such as birds.

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Recently, we also had a report that stated that Facebook has teamed up with leading aeronautical company Airbus to test similar drones in Australia, suggesting that we might hear about drones from Facebook soon. However, none of them suggest the fact that Facebook is making a drone or if this is just a concept that is part of a larger project they are working on. Facebook filing the patent, in this case, does not mean that they are announcing or confirming that they are launching a drone.

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