To meet the objectives we had for this phase 1 project, we lead one technical feasibility study, and one commercial feasibility study.
The technical feasibility and prototyping phase were based on three steps:
• Technical feasibility: studies of different data transfer solutions. Evaluation of these technologies and their impacts on the performance of the system (weight, mechanical characteristics of the tether, cost, data transfer speed…). Design of the complete system (power and data transfer).
• Choice of the most performing solution and technical design of the new tether power supply system. Prototyping of the final system.
• Pre-industrialization and passing of EU Certifications (electric and electromagnetic)
The results were great, the objectives were met, and it validated the design of SAFE-T. We even reached unexpected performances in terms of power/weight ratio for the embedded part of SAFE-T, which opens new perspectives in terms of possible payloads and applications.
Regarding the data transfer feasibility and implementation, we also reached our objectives and we now have a fully operational data function offering a secured transfer speed of up to 100Mb/s.
The commercial viability study was focused on finding the most interesting niches for our product, in order to be able to develop a tailor made solution for this segment.
We’ve been able to identify three promising markets thanks to interviews with specialists, networking, exhibitions and evaluation of commercial partnerships, in a deeper market evaluation.
What we needed was to go further in these markets studies in order to choose the right markets and services. We also defined our strategy to expand internationally, by selecting the most promising foreign markets and identifying partners abroad.
We also lead an intellectual property study in order to define an IP strategy, in order to be able to face international competition, and the results were the filing of two patents.
Helped by Horizon 2020, we were able to assess commercial viability and technical feasibility, to launch industrialization and to pass EU certifications (CE and CEM). We then started the production of SAFE-T first batches.
