NTT has succeeded in the world’s first experiment to induce and guide lightning using a drone, demonstrating the effectiveness of drone lightning resistance technology and lightning induction technology using electric field fluctuations with actual lightning.

Using a device called a field mill, which is a measuring instrument that measures atmospheric electric fields, they observed the ground electric field, and when the electric field strength in the vicinity increased as thunderclouds approached, they flew a drone equipped with a unique lightning-resistant cage to try to induce lightning. As a result, they confirmed that a large current flows through the wire, and at the same time, the surrounding electric field strength changes significantly. Furthermore, they confirmed that a voltage of more than 2,000 volts was generated between the wire and the ground just before the lightning was induced, and lightning was induced in the drone by suddenly changing the electric field strength around the drone.

NTT aims to protect cities and people from lightning damage by flying a drone that will not break even if it is hit directly by lightning to a highly accurately predicted lightning occurrence location, inducing lightning and guiding it to a safe place. In the future, they would like to use drones as flying lightning rods.

※Translating Japanese articles into English with AI