Alteon raises $2.5 million to develop an autonomous aircraft
Bengaluru-based startup Alteon has raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round to develop an autonomous aircraft designed to use ocean wind energy and potentially remain airborne for more than a year. The round was led by individual investor Lachy Groom and also included Together Fund, TechCrunch reports.
Flight powered by wind shear
The company was founded by 20-year-old Samay Sanghvi. Alteon is developing a small autonomous fixed-wing aircraft intended to draw energy from wind shear above the ocean through dynamic soaring. The technique, used by albatrosses, is described as repeatedly moving between air layers traveling at different speeds.
The initial design calls for an aircraft with a wingspan of about three meters. It is intended to fly close to the ocean surface, gain altitude, turn into a faster airflow and repeat this cycle, harvesting wind energy. In the future, Alteon plans to use propellers as turbines to convert part of that energy into electricity and charge onboard batteries.
The technology still requires verification
Alteon has not yet demonstrated that its aircraft can sustain flight solely on energy obtained through dynamic soaring. During a recent autonomous flight system test over the Bay of Bengal, the vehicle independently completed seven O-shaped cycles at speeds of more than 62 miles per hour, flying as close as one meter to the water surface.
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The startup identifies energy-neutral dynamic soaring as its next key goal — a mode in which the aircraft can fly continuously with its propulsion system switched off while receiving sufficient energy from the wind. Alteon initially expects to use such vehicles for maritime surveillance, providing governments with real-time data on activity in their waters.
Gabriel Bousquet, an aerospace engineering and robotics engineer, called the low-altitude flight over water an encouraging initial result, but noted that the more difficult task would be proving stable harvesting of sufficient energy in real wind conditions. According to him, the vehicle will have to respond to turbulence, waves, spray, rain, changing light and the moving ocean surface.
Alteon has a 20-person team in Bengaluru and operates from a 10,000-square-foot facility. According to Sanghvi, the company builds four to five aircraft a week for testing and has conducted more than 200 test flights over the past 30 days.
