Redefining Drone Safety and Autonomous Operation for Indoor Commercial Applications

Project Information

Skye

Grant agreement ID: 836831

DOI

10.3030/836831

Project closed

EC signature date 4 December 2018

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 31 March 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

AEROTAIN AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Skye (Redefining Drone Safety and Autonomous Operation for Indoor Commercial Applications)

Reporting period: 2018-12-01 to 2019-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Skye addresses the need for a safe and engaging commercial drone solution in Media and Entertainment market, as well as the need for indoor drone solutions which are also safe, autonomous, and have minimal noise in the indoor infrastructure, security and logistics markets.
Therefore, the objective of the ARcopter project are to deliver a commercial UAV platform capable of:
• Increased flight times (up to 150 min) thanks to the decreased power demand for propulsion, as most of the lift is generated passively thanks to the buoyancy of the helium-filled hull.
• Excellent operational safety and minimal noise pollution, as even in the case of full system shutdown, Skye will harmlessly float down to the ground, thanks to the passive aerostatic lift ensured by its leak-resistant hull.
• Autonomous operations, in increasing demand in the drone market but until now only carried out for outdoor applications. Using Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) for a proprietary positioning system, our autonomous system is ideal for indoor use, where global positioning systems lose reliability.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

We have assessed current technical capabilities and needs to reach the commercial stage with a technological and complexity-based risk analysis. The work plan to achieve next stage has been devised setting the technical objectives for further developments.
From the commercial point of view, we have analysed the commercial environment surrounding our innovation, including varied market studies, intellectual property status, regulatory environment, a PESTEL analysis, identification of market barriers and a hazard analysis and mitigation plan. A business plan was created based on the information coming from such assessment.
Additionally, we have defined current and prospective strategic partners regarding suppliers, distributors and clients, concluding that we need to work our value chain when shifting to new market segments.
Finally, we have confirmed the financial feasibility of SKYE project, after a deep analyse that includes growth predictions in 3 different scenarios up to 2026.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The feasibility report concluded that Skye 2.0 will be a great improvement on Aerotain’s current product, delivering the definitive solution for an indoor crowd-safe drone, silent and with long endurance, fulfilling the needs in the Media & entertainment, and indoor surveillance and security sectors. Financial predictions result in encouraging results in all the 3 scenarios evaluated, getting a RoI of 4.98 and revenues of €20 Mn in the first 5 years of commercialization.

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