The UK tests drones equipped with nervous systems: no need to frequently land for inspection

On November 6, it was reported that researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK are conducting a breakthrough experiment to test a drone equipped with an innovative "nervous system".

It is reported that this drone uses optical fiber as its core architecture, which is inspired by the human nervous system and can continuously monitor the integrity and health of the drone structure. The integration of this technology not only greatly improves the operating efficiency of the drone, but also greatly reduces the need for landing inspections, indicating a significant reduction in operating costs.

The essence of this fiber optic nervous system is that it uses optical signals instead of traditional electrical signals for real-time data transmission, effectively avoiding the limitation of electronic systems being susceptible to radio frequency interference.

The system has built-in advanced optical speckle technology, which can instantly capture the stress distribution and deformation information of the drone. This information is quickly transmitted to the ground control station in the form of optical signals, and is deeply analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms to accurately assess the health status of the drone and identify potential faults in advance.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the application of optical speckle technology greatly reduces the necessity of frequent landing of drones for routine maintenance inspections, ensuring the efficient, consistent and highly reliable operation of drones.

The researchers stressed that this innovative approach can significantly reduce service interruptions caused by inspections and bring operational efficiency to new levels.