4 ms·

The cable is deployed off a spool on the drone. Once it leaves the drone, it just falls down to the ground with little further movement; there's no dragging. T

The cable is deployed off a spool on the drone. Once it leaves the drone, it just falls down to the ground with little further movement; there's no dragging. There's a lot of wire-guided missiles that use the same idea: a spool of cable on the back of the missile that pays out as the missile moves forward, leaving a long, thin, wire all the way back to the launch point. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW

KyleBerezin 3y ago
A better example is the Israeli Spike-LR, which uses fiber optic cables instead of copper. it has 4km of cable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_(missile)#Spike-LR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_(missile)#Spike-LR
dredmorbius 3y ago
I'd known about TOW missiles, one of a larger class of wire-guided missiles and other munitions (torpedos may also be wire-guided, as with the Spearfish: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfish_torpedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfish_torpedo>). Most WG missiles seem to have effective ranges of about 3,000m. The Spearfish has a range of 54 km, though I don't know if that's under wire guidance (it can also operate autonomously). So the Russian's drone has about twice the range of other WG missiles. Fibre optics also mean a far higher data-rate is possible, perhaps enabling direct video streaming as well as targeting / control information. Fibre might also be lighter than copper cable.
- petertodd 3y ago
  There's a TOW missile with an 8km range: https://web.archive.org/web/20180831175435/https://www.janes.com/article/82673/rafael-unveils-spike-er2 https://web.archive.org/web/20180831175435/https://www.janes... This Russian drone is claimed to have a 10km range under wire guidance, which isn't much bigger. > Fibre might also be lighter than copper cable. It is. I actually worked at a company that used fiber over copper for a communication application for exactly that reason. We needed to run ethernet between different stages of an isolation platform that used air bearings for absolutely minimal friction. Stripping fiber cables down to the inner core was the best solution we came up with to minimize the forces exerted by the communication cable (wireless was also considered, but rejected for reliability reasons).
  - dredmorbius 3y ago
    Thanks for the confirmation, and interesting experience. What was the application if you don't mind?
    - petertodd 3y ago
      A gravity measuring device, mounted in an airplane. Specifically a gravity gradiometer. The isolation platform was needed to isolate the device from the plane's movement to the greatest degree possible, as while we were doing a differential measurement, the common mode error was still significant enough that a very high degree of mechanical isolation was necessary. An _exceptionally_ hard problem... unfortunately the company eventually went bankrupt a few years after I left, having never quite managing to ship a commercially viable product.
      - dredmorbius 3y ago
        Thanks!

KyleBerezin 3y ago

A better example is the Israeli Spike-LR, which uses fiber optic cables instead of copper. it has 4km of cable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_(missile)#Spike-LR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_(missile)#Spike-LR

dredmorbius 3y ago

I'd known about TOW missiles, one of a larger class of wire-guided missiles and other munitions (torpedos may also be wire-guided, as with the Spearfish: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfish_torpedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfish_torpedo>). Most WG missiles seem to have effective ranges of about 3,000m. The Spearfish has a range of 54 km, though I don't know if that's under wire guidance (it can also operate autonomously). So the Russian's drone has about twice the range of other WG missiles. Fibre optics also mean a far higher data-rate is possible, perhaps enabling direct video streaming as well as targeting / control information. Fibre might also be lighter than copper cable.

petertodd 3y ago
There's a TOW missile with an 8km range: https://web.archive.org/web/20180831175435/https://www.janes.com/article/82673/rafael-unveils-spike-er2 https://web.archive.org/web/20180831175435/https://www.janes... This Russian drone is claimed to have a 10km range under wire guidance, which isn't much bigger. > Fibre might also be lighter than copper cable. It is. I actually worked at a company that used fiber over copper for a communication application for exactly that reason. We needed to run ethernet between different stages of an isolation platform that used air bearings for absolutely minimal friction. Stripping fiber cables down to the inner core was the best solution we came up with to minimize the forces exerted by the communication cable (wireless was also considered, but rejected for reliability reasons).
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  Thanks for the confirmation, and interesting experience. What was the application if you don't mind?
  - petertodd 3y ago
    A gravity measuring device, mounted in an airplane. Specifically a gravity gradiometer. The isolation platform was needed to isolate the device from the plane's movement to the greatest degree possible, as while we were doing a differential measurement, the common mode error was still significant enough that a very high degree of mechanical isolation was necessary. An _exceptionally_ hard problem... unfortunately the company eventually went bankrupt a few years after I left, having never quite managing to ship a commercially viable product.
    - dredmorbius 3y ago
      Thanks!