Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WingtraOne (WingtraOne, the leading VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drone for mapping and surveying, uniquely combining long range, heavy payloads and ease of use)
Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2023-01-31
Drones and footage from their cameras have become familiar sights over the past decade. Yet Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have only scratched the surface of their commercial potential. Drone technology has evolved beyond its military roots to encompass a broad array of business applications. However, wider adoption at scale is blocked because of two key problems of today’s drones: 1) Multirotor drones cannot cover large areas due to aerodynamic limitations, reduced speed and limited time of flight (15-30 min). They cannot cover large areas because the rotors use energy to counter gravity, rather than using aerodynamic lift. Thus, costs for data acquisition are prohibitive once you scale from small assets to large assets, and 2) Fixed-wing drones can fly over large areas, but they are notoriously unreliable due to crash landings after every flight and they require a large, clear area for landing and take-off. In many locations - areas with vegetation, rocks or built infrastructure - such landings (and therefore the whole missions) are impossible.
Wingtra has developed a hybrid drone combining the advantages of fixed-wing and multirotor drones. It combines the ease of use of multi-rotor drones with the endurance of fixed wing drones addressing the key problems mentioned above. As such, it creates a new category of drones that are called Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) tail-sitter fixed-wing drones, meaning they are wing-borne drones that also have the ability to take-off and land like a helicopter.
Wingtra has developed a hybrid drone combining the advantages of fixed-wing and multirotor drones. It combines the ease of use of multi-rotor drones with the endurance of fixed wing drones addressing the key problems mentioned above. As such, it creates a new category of drones that are called Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) tail-sitter fixed-wing drones, meaning they are wing-borne drones that also have the ability to take-off and land like a helicopter.
During the first reporting period, Wingtra has undertaken the crucial task of redesigning the MCU to integrate the Wifi module as well as integration of additional reliability and safety features has been completed. Wingtra also integrated and tested two (thermal and oblique) out of three aspired potential additional payloads. Sony alpha 7RIV, 61MP, FLIR Vue Pro R and Micasense Altum RedEdge-MX cameras were tested. In addition, the company also observed that they are air space compliant wherever possible and additional work will be required in the future as any changes to the regulation occur. The company also worked on improving their manufacturing process and prepares to re-file for CE marking considering the changes to be performed. The company gained invaluable experience out of the first CE filing and the future filings are expected to be quicker.
Successful completion of the project will allow Wingtra to achieve broader commercialisation of the WingtraOne, the leading VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drone for mapping and surveying. In fact, the company believes they will be able to become the industry standard for a number of drone applications such as surveying, infrastructure mapping, agriculture & site mapping among several others. Early adopters have reported minimal savings of €540 per 400-hectare mapping and total savings per drone of € 336,000 compared to currently available solutions. The industrialised version of WingtraOne after this EIC project will slash total costs by 73% relative to currently available solutions. Wingtra estimates conservatively that farmers could save on average €3633 per hectare for corn, soy and wheat. For a large farm above 100ha this accumulates to roughly €3,600 savings per year plus higher yields, which is a €1.2 billion savings opportunity for the 337,000 EU farmers with more than 100ha and reduction of fertilizer use will lead to saving more than 4.8 million tons of CO2 over the next 10 years.