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Solving the greatest problem of surveillance: To see without being seen

Project description

Drones flap their way to silent mode

Drones zipping through the skies can’t go undetected. They are loud enough to be heard as their rotors slice through the air. But drones could become silent if they had wings. With this in mind, the EU-funded Silent Flyer project is developing a small unmanned air system that is an autonomous flapping-wing bird-like robot. Not only does it look like a bird, it flies like one too by using flapping flight for lift and propulsion instead of propellers. This new bird-like drone will revolutionise the market with the first unmanned air vehicle that combines silent flight (<70 dB of noise emission) and accurate vertical take-off and landing capabilities to operate in turbulent weather conditions.

Objective

With a market value of USD 18.14 Billion in 2017 and projected to reach USD 52.30 Billion by 2025, Unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), colloquially called drones, are defined as “an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond the line of sight”. However, their widespread implementation is restrained by the noise and obtrusive appearance limitations of commercialized technologies in either flight range or usability.
For this we, Flygildi, developed SILENT FLYER: “An entirely new drone design solving the greatest problem of surveillance -to see without being seen”. SILENT FLYER is a Small UAV (or small unmanned air system, SUAS), which is an autonomous flapping wing bird-like robot. It looks like a bird and flies like a bird: It uses flapping flight for lift and propulsion instead of propellers. It will revolutionize the drone’s market by introducing the first UAV that combines silent flight (<70dB of noise emission) and bird-like appearance while incorporating accurate vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities to operate in turbulent weather conditions. SILENT FLYER can fly for >40 mins under favorable conditions (due to the ability to utilize wind currents during soaring, like a bird) and >300m maximum altitude of operation and do accurate landings relative to the ground. This makes it the perfect solution for 1) Civil use and surveillance, 2) wildlife photography & research.
Moreover, SILENT FLYER will also represent a great boost for our company, not only regarding revenues, but also for our staff, since we plan to increase our staff a 120% from 8 to 18 people, in order to reach our production needs.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

FLYGILDI EHF
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
TUNGOTU 35
101 REYKJAVIK
Iceland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Ísland Ísland Höfuðborgarsvæði
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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