Aerial Robots for Maritime Applications

Environmental surveillance, inspection of off-shore facilities or harbour security are maritime applications, which need air-borne monitoring. Autonomous aerial robots or unmanned aerial vehicles offer new possibilities for these application areas and can provide a cost-effective alternative to manned aircrafts.


The development of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) experienced a rapid push in the recent years. As a result of the technological progress in microsystems technology and embedded systems development there are new possibilities to increase the performance and autonomy of unmanned aerial vehicles. Small helicopter systems and fixed-wing aircrafts with only a few kilograms takeoff weight can now be equipped with similar capabilities for autonomous navigation, as large drones which were developed for military applications. This results in new possibilities, especially in civilian applications.
 

Applications
There are various application possibilities of UASs for monitoring and remote sensing. Classical application areas are aerial photography or the inspection of industrial plants. Where photos or videos are needed to be taken in dangerous or nearly unreachable places in harbours or offshore installations, micro-UASs can be the platform of choice. Furthermore, emission measurements in air or monitoring for port and coastal security can be accomplished as well.
 

Autonomy of flying systems
In all of the aforementioned applications, the operator of the aerial system should be freed from the task of controlling the aircraft in order to be able to focus on the application. This is achieved by giving the autonomous aircraft the ability to stabilize itself and navigate autonomously by pre-defined waypoints. Today’s systems support the user by allowing him to plan a mission in advance on a laptop computer, which is then performed automatically by the aerial robot. A pilot training is not necessary.