Kitemill showcases wind-powered tethered ISR UAV

Norwegian company Kitemill presented Kitewall, a tethered unmanned aircraft designed to use wind energy for persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The payload-agnostic system can carry up to 20 kilograms at altitudes of up to 500 metres and is intended for continuous operation while generating surplus power for ground equipment. Kitemill says an optional fibre-optic link integrated into the tether can provide data transmission; the UAV can also operate untethered with a 50 km radio line-of-sight range. The platform can support electro-optical/infrared sensors and radio-frequency detection equipment, individually or in a networked 'wall' configuration.