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102 CHAPTER 5 <strong>Power</strong>ing The Deck<br />

SOLAR POWER<br />

Solar power can be used to provide all required electricity for an exterior drone or to<br />

extend the run time. Either way, a rechargeable battery will be needed to run the drone<br />

during the dark hours. Solar cell packages outputting 6 V are readily available. Adafruit<br />

offers 6 V solar panels delivering 330, 530, 600, <strong>and</strong> 930 mA (http://www.adafruit.<br />

com/category/67). In terms of size, these panels range from 5.44.4 to 8.626.87 in.<br />

Even if you are performing penetration tests in Alaska, sunlight will not be available<br />

at all times. For our calculations, we will assume sunlight is available 40% of the<br />

time <strong>and</strong> a 5000 mA h 6 V rechargeable battery is used. After a little algebra, the run<br />

time is simply equal to (battery capacity)/((average current required)–(sunlight<br />

percentage) (solar panel current output)). Negative run times indicate that the<br />

drone can be run indefinitely. Run times are shown in Table 5.4 for each of the four<br />

solar panels sold by Adafruit.<br />

MATH IS FUN<br />

Calculating Solar Run Times<br />

Generally speaking, the run time (t) is equal to the available current capacity (s) divided by the average<br />

rate of current flow (r):<br />

t ¼ s=r<br />

Solar power adds the complication that the current capacity increases when the solar panels are<br />

converting sunlight into electricity. As a result, s is no longer a simple constant but a value that<br />

depends on the run time t. Calling this new value s 0 , the percentage of sunlight p, <strong>and</strong> the current<br />

capacity of the solar panel c:<br />

s 0 ¼ s + pct<br />

Substituting into our original formula for t:<br />

t ¼ s 0 =r ¼ ðs + pctÞ=r<br />

Rearranging to get all terms involving t on the same side of the equation:<br />

Dividing by (1–pc/r):<br />

tð1<br />

pc=rÞ¼s=r<br />

t ¼ ðs=rÞ= ð1 pc=rÞ<br />

Multiplying the right-h<strong>and</strong> side by r/r to simplify:<br />

t ¼ s= ðr<br />

pcÞ<br />

Table 5.4 Run Times For Solar <strong>Power</strong>ed Drones With 40% Sunlight <strong>and</strong> 5 A h<br />

Storage Battery<br />

Solar Panel Output (mA) Run Time at 220 mA (h) Run Time at 280 mA (h)<br />

330 57 34<br />

530 625 74<br />

600 Indefinite 125<br />

930 Indefinite Indefinite

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