Soaring in general seems like a ripe opportunity for automation.
If someone makes software that can seek out and make use of lift (using various information sources), it could pave the way for very low-energy drones.
EDIT: Interesting.... seems there is something already that handles the "circling and staying in thermals" part.
If someone makes software that can seek out and make use of lift (using various information sources), it could pave the way for very low-energy drones.
EDIT: Interesting.... seems there is something already that handles the "circling and staying in thermals" part.
https://ardupilot.org/plane/docs/soaring.html
https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.08215 "ArduSoar: an Open-Source Thermalling Controller for Resource-Constrained Autopilots"