Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LOLAS (Precise and reliable autonomous landing for drones, helicopters and other rotorcraft)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-08-01 bis 2019-12-31
Landing has always been one of the most dangerous flight phases for any aircraft, but particularly so for
rotorcraft (drones, helicopters & other). Challenging weather conditions only increase the likelihood of
an accident. the HEST Safety analysis report conducted in 2010 showed that 28% of accidents occur during approach and landing phases
and 43% of accidents are due to lack of visibility and bad weather conditions.
These accidents lead to injuries of people (both inside the aircraft & on the ground) as well as to hull damage & losses.
Solution—an autonomous landing solution for complex conditions
To increase safety of people & equipment during landing, we have
developed LOLAS—local landing system. LOLAS is a novel patented
solution that ensures safe landing of various rotorcraft in the most
challenging conditions. LOLAS consists of the onboard & ground
equipment that communicate with each other during approach across
different channels. LOLAS is resistant to jamming or absence of satellite
navigation & allows centimetre-grade precision (which is superior to
competitive solutions).
Importantly, LOLAS enables safe landings on moving pads, which is
crucial for a number of market segments, such as aerospace, transport,
maritime, security, defence & multiple others.
Our key goals are to:
▪ The Phase 1 project, we will investigate the commercial & economic feasibility of
LOLAS capturing the large shares of the target markets;
▪ In 2019-2020 we will bring LOLAS to TRL 9 & start working on the next solution—sensing &
avoidance functionality. We plan to complete the LOLAS variant that doesn’t require ground
units, develop emergency landing support & explore the additional types of rotorcraft (such as
vertical take-off & landing aircraft for urban air mobility scenarios).
So far the main results that confirms market traction include:
-partnership agreement with Key accounts like Naval Group, Airbus Helicopters, John Cockerill, Musthane
-distrbution agreement signed in Singapore an Corea,more are uder negociation
-sucessful fundraising with Family Office, Corporate and Business Angels.
-Internest succeed to also secure banking financing form HSBC and BPI.
All in all this shows the satisfaction and trust in Internest solution of customers that opinion leaders in their industry.
The financial support allow th adjust humant and technical resources in order to adress the market opportunity.
That's why Internest is actively involved in the IP4SME EU initiative
Indeed ultrasound has never been used in aeronautics specially for Take-Off & landing applications. So to be able to use Internest embedded system for large drones multirotors and helicopters has never been seen before. This will create not only a great market opportunity but also benefit to the environment.
Being able to use drone instaed of manned piloted helicopters will ecological footpring by reducing fuel consumption. It's a direct and key benefit on top of reducing noise constraints.