Eternal Flight's goal is to address the problem of the short battery life in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) by allowing the ability to operate continuously without the need to land. This is achieved using a novel system called IFS (In-Flight Switching), in which a larger "parent" drone switches the drained battery of the smaller "child" drone, effectively increasing the child drone's time in flight. The child locates the position of the parent drone using geolocation and positions itself above the parent drone. The child drone then lowers itself slowly and lands on top of the parent drone using computer vision and AprilTags, latching onto the parent drone using electromagnets to prevent further movement. The custom battery switching mechanism slides a new battery into the battery holder on the child drone, and simultaneously pushes out the drained battery. After the battery switching is complete, the child drone is free to take off with a full battery.

For additional information please go to Eternal Flight Website