Engineering AI Leveraged for In-Flight Wireless Power Transfer to UAVs

Deep-tech startup SunCubes has deployed Engineering AI tools from cloud simulation platform SimScale to develop laser-based charging solutions that allow unmanned aerial vehicles to recharge mid-flight without physical contact.

Battery performance remains a primary bottleneck for commercial and industrial drone deployments. Market research firm McKinsey identifies battery and powertrain technology as a critical constraint limiting drone delivery range. Similar endurance issues affect monitoring operations for energy infrastructure, such as long-range pipelines and offshore wind turbines, while agricultural operators must manually replace drone batteries during field operations.

As the unmanned aerial vehicle market is projected to expand from $24.4 billion in 2025 to $52.1 billion by 2033 across the energy, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, construction, and security sectors, overcoming these range limitations has become mission-critical. The development of in-flight wireless energy transmission technology aims to eliminate traditional range constraints.

SunCubes is utilizing SimScale’s cloud-native simulation tools, including its AI-powered agentic simulation capabilities, to support the engineering and validation of its aircraft systems and wireless power transfer hardware. Cloud simulation allows the engineering team to evaluate thermal, structural, and aerodynamic performance across advanced drone designs without the time and cost requirements of physical prototyping.

“Simulation is not a support function for us – it’s how we build,” says Davide Russo, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, SunCubes. “SimScale gives us the capability to run complex, multi-physics analysis on our UAV designs and energy transfer systems in the cloud, with AI that helps us set up and interpret simulations faster than ever. For a team our size, this means we’re not blocked by inadequate tools and can move at startup speed, which is critical to our success.”

“SunCubes represents a genuinely new frontier for engineering simulation,” says David Heiny, Co-Founder and CEO of SimScale. “Laser-based wireless charging for drones is one of the most technically demanding hardware challenges in the industry today, and seeing a team this focused on using AI-assisted simulation as a core design tool is exactly the future we’re building toward.”