The whole project is splitted into two main parts:
The first topic is about a technological improvement in the inspection of offshore wind turbines with special drones that are capable of being operated beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). In addition to mechanical and aerodynamic improvements and thus an increase in efficiency, the aim is also to significantly increase the flight-endurance, so that they can operate from greater distances.
To increase the autonomy of the flight robot, a sensor head with the integration of SLAM technology (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) is being developed, which observes the airspace on the way to the remote location and at the same time has the ability to actively detect wind turbines, establish an inspection flight path and then automatically return to the starting point after the work is done
The second topic is the business development for international markets. In the first period we started to achieve manpower on the place of interest, in Northern Germany, to get closer to the near future core market (Northern Europe and Offshore windfarms). The goal was to contact potential international business partners from in the wind branch: OEM´s, wind park owners and service companies. Customer relation management was carried out under use of our CRM-Software.
Due to the prolongation of the Corona crisis in 2021 and 2022, it was very difficult to get directly to the customer. Also, the customer availability was limited. Nevertheless, we were able to do several offers to customers and brought projects to the ground. The number of total offers increased to 60 offers for 2023, we gained a significant number of promising customers (RWE, REZ, wpd, Nordex, Max Bögl, Zeitview etc.) in the service business and the delivery of Flight Intelligence Systems. Two systems could be delivered to the US market. Due to our success with the Flight System, DJI, the world biggest drone distributor, offered a marketing partnership to us in 2022.
Aero Enterprise participated in the most important wind fairs in Europe, f.e. in Hamburg, Husum, Kopenhagen, London etc., accompanied by publishing the development in international branch magazines in order to increase its awareness level.