And all of this IMO is why the war in Ukraine has been allowed to continue. It’s live weapon/ technology testing for modern warfare
I think innovation like this, that is so cheap and accessible, is terrible for the super powers. I’m imagining if this type of thing was available in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, the US would have had a MUCH worse time.
I would think it would be in the best interests of any first world country with a tendency toward… wars away from home… to limit the advancement of technology like this.
I think innovation like this, that is so cheap and accessible, is terrible for the super powers. I’m imagining if this type of thing was available in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, the US would have had a MUCH worse time.
Yup, on both points. That said, we’ve only seen what disorganized and underfunded groups struggling to survive could do with the tech in Ukraine. Imagine what a superpower could bring to mass production, long range delivery and mass coordination coupled to a first class military - china or the us. And it’s going to be peer adversarial - drones sometimes take out other drones in Ukraine, in the next major conflict we’re going to see swarm vs swarm actions.
You can’t jam the signal when it’s directly connected. Think ethernet cable to wifi. The war heavily uses drones. It’s been a cat and mouse game that Ukraine has been winning and this is the latest innovation.
You wouldn’t want to. Lives could depend on the next drone’s mission, why risk losing it from a kink in the fiber? Also, the time putting it back on reels is better spent elsewhere. Fiber is very, very, very cheap compared to all other expenses in war. You don’t collect brass to re-load ammo on the battlefield either.
tl;dr: drones can be tethered by fiber optic cables. The cable provides jam-proof communication between the drone and the operator; and it also supplies power to the drone so it doesn’t need a massive battery pack and can stay airborne longer.
In the case of drones, the fiber optic cable provides a direct, stable, and high-capacity link for both power and data transmission. […] The fiber optic cable also supplies power to the drone, meaning the UAV doesn’t need a huge battery onboard.
Power Over Fiber “is a technology in which a fiber-optic cable carries optical power, which is used as an energy source rather than, or as well as, carrying data”.
Now I’d recommend looking up how much power can be transported by the very few implementations out there, and how much they cost.
Anything coming close to being able to power a drone would need way thicker fibers, increasing the drone weight. Any too big bend would set the fiber on fire. And it costs so much that building a slightly bigger drone with more batteries is cheaper.
Ukraine has had a lot of success using remotely operated suicide drones. They are cheap, built mostly from off the shelf hobbyist grade components, but with a few inexpensive upgrades the signal goes for miles. Strap a grenade on the bottom or any kind of bomb with an impact fuse and you have an excellent remote control weapon.
So of course the Russians start deploying radio jammers to block the drone signals.
The solution to this is fiber optics. The drone carries a giant spool of hair thin fiber optic cable which sends control commands from the operator and video back from the drone. Because it’s a cable, it’s immune to jamming.
The cable is insanely thin, usually in the tens of microns thickness. So they don’t bother recovering the cable, drone flies out spooling out cable behind it, hits its target and blows up, operator just detaches that fiber and pulls out another drone with another spool of cable to start again. This leaves tons of little fibers laying around on the countryside because every drone leaves one in its path.
That’s the point of this video. Most of those fibers have a dead Russian soldier at the end of them.
deleted by creator
There’s been a huge increase in the usage of fiber optic drones by Ukranian forces in that area.
Which is significant how / why?
deleted by creator
allowed to continue by who? the way I see it Russia could end the war anytime by just going home
deleted by creator
I think innovation like this, that is so cheap and accessible, is terrible for the super powers. I’m imagining if this type of thing was available in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, the US would have had a MUCH worse time.
I would think it would be in the best interests of any first world country with a tendency toward… wars away from home… to limit the advancement of technology like this.
Yup, on both points. That said, we’ve only seen what disorganized and underfunded groups struggling to survive could do with the tech in Ukraine. Imagine what a superpower could bring to mass production, long range delivery and mass coordination coupled to a first class military - china or the us. And it’s going to be peer adversarial - drones sometimes take out other drones in Ukraine, in the next major conflict we’re going to see swarm vs swarm actions.
shit’s gonna get crazy fast
You can’t jam the signal when it’s directly connected. Think ethernet cable to wifi. The war heavily uses drones. It’s been a cat and mouse game that Ukraine has been winning and this is the latest innovation.
But wouldn’t fiber optic cable over long distance add so much weight as to impede flight or carrying munitions? Is it shockingly lightweight?
deleted by creator
Another benefit is that most of the fiber will be on the ground as you get closer to the target. Your drone will get lighter as it flies.
Could you reel it back in after the drone explodes for reuse?
You wouldn’t want to. Lives could depend on the next drone’s mission, why risk losing it from a kink in the fiber? Also, the time putting it back on reels is better spent elsewhere. Fiber is very, very, very cheap compared to all other expenses in war. You don’t collect brass to re-load ammo on the battlefield either.
I’m going to bet they’re older spools for tow missiles.
Think fishing line. It’s so thin it weighs basically nothing.
Impressive. Thank for the info.
Any weight at all is going to effect the drones ability, but fiber optic cables are very very lightweight, being just a wrapped strand of glass.
Using wireless to control the drone makes the drone and operator very easy to detect. Controlling via fiber it’s mush harder to detect.
deleted by creator
Wondering the same thing myself
deleted by creator
tl;dr: drones can be tethered by fiber optic cables. The cable provides jam-proof communication between the drone and the operator; and it also supplies power to the drone so it doesn’t need a massive battery pack and can stay airborne longer.
Fiber optic cable can’t supply power.
They could if it was a copper wire, but then it’s even heavier.
According to the article:
There’s no way that’s correct though, with current technology
Maybe this is why we shouldn’t have AI write articles. Does the drone have a solar panel on the other end of the cable?
I have to imagine the article is just wrong about this part, but maybe there’s something I’m missing.
Power Over Fiber “is a technology in which a fiber-optic cable carries optical power, which is used as an energy source rather than, or as well as, carrying data”.
Now I’d recommend looking up how much power can be transported by the very few implementations out there, and how much they cost.
Anything coming close to being able to power a drone would need way thicker fibers, increasing the drone weight. Any too big bend would set the fiber on fire. And it costs so much that building a slightly bigger drone with more batteries is cheaper.
Has it actually been deployed for aerial drones, or just theoretically?
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Thank you, that was helpful.
Ukraine has had a lot of success using remotely operated suicide drones. They are cheap, built mostly from off the shelf hobbyist grade components, but with a few inexpensive upgrades the signal goes for miles. Strap a grenade on the bottom or any kind of bomb with an impact fuse and you have an excellent remote control weapon.
So of course the Russians start deploying radio jammers to block the drone signals.
The solution to this is fiber optics. The drone carries a giant spool of hair thin fiber optic cable which sends control commands from the operator and video back from the drone. Because it’s a cable, it’s immune to jamming.
The cable is insanely thin, usually in the tens of microns thickness. So they don’t bother recovering the cable, drone flies out spooling out cable behind it, hits its target and blows up, operator just detaches that fiber and pulls out another drone with another spool of cable to start again. This leaves tons of little fibers laying around on the countryside because every drone leaves one in its path.
That’s the point of this video. Most of those fibers have a dead Russian soldier at the end of them.
Its very “the fates”. Literally clipping threads.