FC4DRONES Project – Hydrogen Drone

Drones (UAVs) are transforming a wide range of sectors from land monitoring to precision agriculture, all the way to infrastructure inspection. One of the main challenges, however, remains flight endurance.

Within the FC4DRONES project, MAVTech designed and built a multirotor drone, while the project leader Dumarey Group handled the integration of the new hydrogen-powered system. The complete system was then jointly tested in an operational environment.

Thanks to this project, it was possible to:

• Double the flight time compared to battery-powered systems alone;
• Reduce refueling times compared to traditional recharging;
• Develop reliable digital twins of both the drone and the power system;
• Create a control unit for managing power distribution between the fuel cell and the battery.

The project was carried out in collaboration with Dumarey and funded by the NODES program, as part of the PNRR – Italia Domani initiative, with the support of the European Commission – NextGenerationEU.

A concrete step toward drones that are more efficient, sustainable, and ready for real-world commercial and industrial applications.