But in a New Mexico Tech University release, Dr. Hassanalian explains that it won’t be the day before tomorrow as their prototype is still quite noisy (which can also be a problem blending in with the birds).
For the moment, this drone will have to be further perfected in order to be able to follow migratory birds and understand how they manage to keep so much energy by flying in a triangular formation (the famous V of ducks that we see in autumn). Indeed, according to Dr. Hassanalian, birds can conserve more than 40% of their energy by flying in formation and changing position regularly. The researcher would like to understand how and see if the same technique can be used by drones to conserve their energy longer.
After two full-scale trials, their research showed that using the same formation as birds, drones can conserve up to 70% energy.
“This research is ongoing and we are still thinking regarding the next 100 years. So, once we have automatic navigation, planes might fly in a V formation and mimic migrating birds. If we program them with control algorithms, we can get the same advantage as birds“, he concludes.
