Project description
The sky is the limit for new indoor drone
A cross between a quadcopter and a blimp, a new type of drone – an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – is about to take off. The EU-funded Skye project aims to deliver a commercial drone designed to operate indoors. It will be the first UAV to solve two problems common for indoor flying drones. The first is the risk of collision and/or injury. The second is the fully autonomous operation. Set to revolutionise the commercial drone market, Skye UAV has a redundant propulsion system to fly safely above crowds and minimise impact in case of system failure. For instance, collision prevention is made possible thanks to the helium-filled hull and redundant propulsion system. Also, higher flight duration is possible due to the smaller and more powerful air impellers.
Objective
Commercial drones - technically known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – are one of the fastest-growing markets (200,000 units sold for commercial use last year). Increased safety, precise data collection, improved productivity, higher scalability and reduced operational costs make them suitable for a wide range of commercial applications mainly in infrastructure, media and entertainment (M&E), agriculture and telecommunications. However, their rapid adoption in indoor applications is restrained by limitations of Multi-rotors (the main commercialized technology) in operational safety, autonomous operation and flight range.
Part quadcopter - part blimp, Skye aims to revolutionize the commercial drone’s market by introducing the first UAV that solves the two most critical challenges of indoor flying drones: collision/injury risks and fully autonomous operation. Based on our patent pending “Redundant propulsion system”, we offer a drone powered solution able to fly completely safe above crowds (certified to fly above crowd in CH, USA and CN) and minimize any impact in case of system failure. All the above achieved by an easy to use system able to operate fully autonomously and carry a variety of payloads. By overcoming the limitations of multi-rotor technology we offer a superior drone technology with the following key competitive advantages: 1) High safety standards – collision tolerance (helium filled hull and redundant propulsion system), 2) Higher flight duration (smaller and more powerful air-impellers) and 3) Fully autonomous 24/7 operation (proprietary indoor GPS solution).
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrynoble gases
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsdrones
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunications
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
8092 ZURICH
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.