• shadowtofu@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 month ago

    I would assume/hope that it’s pretty simple to collect all the cables again? Just “walk” once across the field, pick up all the cables, roll them up, and you are done? I am kind of wondering why the operator couldn’t just roll up the cable from their side again after the end of the flight. But I can understand that that is not a priority at that point.

    • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 month ago

      There is no way these bare fibers have the tensile strength necessary that you even could drag kilometers of it back to the operator through the terrain. You need to know, these are not full cables as you would normally use them for networking, that would be to heavy for the drone. Instead it’s single fiber strands without any mantle.

      • Nailbar@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        They’re surprisingly durable. Afaik you can’t break them with your bare hands, you need something to cut them with.

        • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 month ago

          Well I have never tried to deliberately break a fiber, usually my goal is to have them work when I’m done. But the bare fibers without mantle are really thin (250 micrometer is typical, 125 for core and cladding, and 125 around that for the coating) and you have to treat them carefully. I think if you bent them tight they would break. I know splicing tools have special cutters included, but my understanding was that those are only needed to make a proper 90° cut good for splicing.