In-Flight Wireless Charging: A Promising Application-Oriented Charging Technique for Drones

As a novel research topic, in-flight wireless charging shows enormous development potential and application prospects, as it can effectively cope with the limitation of the short duration of electric-driven drones. First, this article introduces three main technical challenges of in-flight wireless charging that are significantly different from electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging, including the continuous disturbance of mutual inductance, lightweight design for the receiving side, and fast charging. Then, some emerging solutions are discussed from four perspectives, namely, technical challenges and system construction. Finally, a summary of in-flight wireless charging is presented to inspire more innovative solutions from worldwide researchers.