ALMA is a 10-month project that at its conclusion shall demonstrate that an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) can be made to autonomously land onto the deck of a vessel underway at sea.
Detection of illegal fishing activity with limited numbers of maritime enforcement vessels, is a huge challenge. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing exists in part because there are vast areas of ocean to monitor. Effective enforcement is required, supported through increased utilization of surveillance technology.
Ship-launched Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have the potential to greatly extend the surveillance and evidence gathering capability of coastguard vessels and rapidly respond to suspicious or uncooperative vessels detected by ship-borne radar. Video evidence can be captured from the UAS, and the locations and activities of suspect vessels can be reported rapidly to coastguard authorities.
Currently though, landing a UAS on to a moving coastguard vessel requires a highly skilled operator. The ALMA technologies shall alleviate the requirement to place skilled (and scarce) UAS pilots into offshore operational roles. We shall automate the critical landing phase of the UAS onto the vessel at the end of its reconnaissance mission, with a combination of intelligent sensing and beacon technologies. This will greatly increase the number of deployed UAS in service, reduce operating costs, and significantly extend coverage of each maritime surveillance vessel.
Project outcomes will include determination of the reliability and constraints of the automated landing system, through multiple structured landing tests onto a vessel underway. Limitations of vessel speed, wind and sea state will be determined during trials, and reported.
WPs and Tasks
During this period BEIA have been able deliver the following outcomes:
- A market analysis was performed to find potential data processing and communication solution that could be of interest, such as the Libelium solution that offers new applications for factory automation, automotive applications, industrial networking, building and infrastructure, transportation, energy applications and even military uses.
- Providing to partners the information regarding the legislations in terms at national level regarding the obtaining of the right of authorized lifting of UAV devices in private/public areas. The UAV certificate can be obtained online by going through a grid type test, which can be found by accessing the link https://www.caa.ro/en/ ;
- Providing to partners detailed information regarding the NAVROM Cargo transport fleet, Romania, which provides for the actual testing of the RADAR-DRONE-BEACON communication system a TTS Line maritime pusher, located in a private port of Galati;
- Realization of the CONOPS documentation, which also contains the functional architecture of the communication system (on-going);
- Participation to relevant dissemination and communication events to promote the ALMA solution to the large public audience.
Dissemination events:
- European Research and Innovation Days 2021, 23th-24th June 2021
BEIA Consult participated in European Research and Innovation Days 2021 on 23th-24th June 2021.
European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
- Bucharest Tech Week 2021, 21-23 May 2021
BEIA participated in Bucharest Tech Week 2021 on 21-23 May 2021. Every year, Bucharest Tech Week transforms Bucharest into the international capital of technology. For a week, the largest festival in Romania takes place, which brings together the community of tech enthusiasts, whether they are business professionals, entrepreneurs, students, or simply lovers of technology and innovation.
- Cities of Tomorrow #9, 13-16 September 2021
Our company participated in Cities of Tomorrow #9 on 13-16 September 2021.
The annual event dedicated to the sustainable development of Romanian cities and regions is already at its ninth edition and has consolidated its position as a top event for the business environment, architecture, urban development and administration.
- Hybrid Enterprise Europe Net-work matchmaking event within UAV Show 2021, 19-20 October 2021
Beia participated in Hybrid Enter-prise Europe Network matchmaking event within UAV Show 2021
The match-making event brings to-gether companies, R&D centres and academies in the field of UAVs and related sectors. A large number of European countries will gather dur-ing these two days. It is such a unique opportunity to generate new business, technology and research and innovation contacts and con-tracts. As the event is hybrid, meet-ings will take place either on the ground in a dedicated area or virtu-ally.
- DroneDays 21 – Drones @ Work, 26 November 2021
Beia participated in DroneDays 21 – Drones @ Work
The crisis resulting from COVID-19 pandemic had and still has a tre-mendous impact on businesses across Europe and beyond EU fron-tiers. SMEs suffered particularly from the crisis but proved as well to be able to cope with the challenges.
- Cluj Innovation Days, 17-20 October 2022
Great networking opportunity for ALMA Auto-Landing Marine Unmanned Air Vehicles drone on 17-20 October 2022 at Cluj Innovation Days 2022. Our company participated as virtual exhibitor.
- Inter Drone Expo 2022 20-23 October 2022
BEIA participated as exhibitor in Inter Drone Expo 2022 on 20-23 October 2022. The first exhibition in the Balkans, which gives the professional and general public the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the possibilities of Drone & Anti Drone unmanned systems for various applications. The exhibition is a platform to connect stakeholders in this specific field and a networking contact point for professionals in the sector.
It was a great opportunity for our company to disseminate ALMA.
Leaflet
More info about the project here.