Drones have many advantages over conventional gas-powered aircraft and road vehicles when it comes to speed, efficiency and sustainability.  But when it comes to continuous operation, drones often fall short due to their reliance on batteries, which typically must be recharged after just 20-30 minutes.

Some drones include an extra battery back or can automatically recharge in mid-air, but maintaining battery power over time is still an outstanding problem in most cases.

Volarious, a Singapore-based technology company, is carving out a unique niche in the drone industry by focusing on the development of tether cables that allow UAVs to remain connected to ground-based energy sources, extending their flight life and power capabilities nearly indefinitely.

Last year, the company began working with the US Border Patrol to tether its drones to trucks that patrol the US-Mexico border.  The drones, equipped with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras that can detect human movements day and night, hover above the trucks and relay video images to the driver, who controls the camera’s movement.

The drone films while it’s still tethered to a power source in the truck bed that allows the aircraft to fly continuously, even as the truck changes speed, and when necessary, engages in hot pursuit of illegal border-crossers.  Volarious and the US Border Patrol have field tested their  tether-based drone system, which should be ready for active deployment in the field later this year.

But that’s just the beginning. Volarious has just pioneered another tether-based drone concept for use in humanitarian disaster and emergency rescue operations.

In this case, the drone is equipped with massive flood lights powered by a separate energy source that can keep the lights on and blaring indefinitely, covering a space equivalent to two adjacent tennis courts.

The idea for the drone floodlight system emerged in the wake of last month’s cable car emergency in Pakistan.  Seven children and an adult were stuck in a cable car dangling precariously over a remote ravine after one of its cables snapped.  The first responders had to suspend the operation after darkness fell and ended up hauling ground-based flood lights to the remote setting.  The high-risk rescue operation took 14 hours, adding to the horror and trauma of the ordeal.  Luckily, all 8 people survived.

Volarious says the use of its V-Light technology can allow first responders to arrive on the scene quickly to work in the dead of night for hours, as needed, reducing the length of the emergency and the risk of death and injury.  Attached to a DJI M30 drone, a typical floodlight’s high battery power consumption would only allow the aircraft to remain airborne for a very short time – just a few minutes, in fact.  Instead, Volarious’ V-Light draws power directly from a portable tethered system instead of the drone itself.  The power supply is continuous and allows for even more power to be supplied.  The scope and intensity of illumination exceeds that of conventional tower masts and torch systems conventionally deployed during emergencies.

Volarius’ custom floodlight is compact and lightweight.  It weighs only 670 grams and can fit into a backpack or a small truck compartment. It enjoys a pitch angle of up to 180 degrees and can illuminate an area of nearly 6,000 square feet – far beyond the scope of a bright spotlight – from a height of 35 meters.  And unlike conventional systems, the drone is mobile and can operate at night, when conventional search and rescue operations typically shut down.

“The technology of drones, continuous luminance, and unlimited flight time will surely be life-saving equipment for public safety and emergency responders,” says Weilang Zhang, the company’s founder.

The V-Light is not yet on the market but could be deployed in a wide range of settings for law enforcement and humanitarian relief crews but also for aerial surveillance operations by construction and mining crews and other commercial operators that may need to illuminate a scene at night on short notice, especially in remote settings.