Florida-based Undefined Technologies recently introduced the next generation of the Silent Ventus, a “silent” drone that uses an atmospheric ion engine instead of traditional propellers. And now this drone has successfully made two test flights.

The new Silent Ventus is, of course, quite different from previous generations in terms of design. However, the ionic propulsion system remained an ionic propulsion system, consisting of at least two grid electrodes fed with a potential that ionizes and accelerates the air molecules. And despite having a decent case, the drone still somehow resembles a flying hair dryer.

The efficiency of the atmospheric ion engine is ensured by proprietary Air Tantrum technology™, the first mention of which appeared in December 2021. When it was first mentioned, this technology was positioned as silent, but in practice it is a little different.

The first Silent Ventus prototype, which can withstand 25 seconds in air, produced 90 decibels. This year’s sample, which can stay in the air for two and a half minutes, makes 85 decibels. Undefined Technologies’ ultimate goal is to reduce the noise level to 70 decibels, equivalent to the noise emitted by a DJI Mavic quadcopter. However, it is not yet clear how the company’s experts will reduce the noise from the device, which no longer has any moving parts.

You can see one of the test flights of the Silent Ventus drone in the video below. At first glance, the next-gen device has become more stable in the air, but its lightweight design bends dangerously both in flight and during landing, and it’s doubtful that the device could be scaled up to lift useful cargo from the air. considerable weight.

Of course, such a device will not be able to rise very high, because according to research by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the breakdown voltage increases with height in proportion to the degree of deterioration. But mostly existing drones are only used at low altitudes and that shouldn’t be a hindrance.

Undefined Technologies will continue to work in this direction and we will be very interested to see if the Silent Ventus will be quiet and efficient enough to compete with conventional multi-rotor aircraft.