In Lorient harbor at the end of April, the Dronisator®, a system that transforms any motorized craft (up to 16m) into a remotely-operated maritime or river drone, was presented for the first time to a (restricted) audience. The event, organized by the Drones et Océans association, brought together project partners Keys4Sea, Safran and OSE, as well as numerous experts interested in the subject.
An unmanned vehicle vision adapted to the maritime context
In the maritime sector, as in the air transport sector, the opening up of the drone technological field meets a concrete need. However, contrary to appearances, their realization is at least as complex, if not more so.
In particular, because the maritime environment is heterogeneous and unpredictable. Sailors have a long tradition of adapting their boats to their environment and their needs. The Dronisator’s idea is to use this investment already made in the watercraft, to add functionalities that make it possible to sail without an onboard crew.
“Most of the boats in front of you could be transformed into drones,” explains Guillaume d’Arcimoles, Keys4Sea‘s chairman, pointing to the various vessels and watercraft anchored or sailing between Kernevel and the citadel of Port Louis on this fine spring morning. He goes on to say, “Mainly to carry out repetitive, remote-operated tasks”.
Invited to the iodized site of the Larmor Plage nautical society by the chairman of Drones et Océan, Thomas Lockhart, an eclectic and professional audience took part in this first official presentation of the Dronisator prototype on April 25 and 26, 2024. The aim was to gather feedback on the system, 95% of which was self-developed by the company, with support from OSE-engineering for the software and Safran for the demonstration useful load.
The Dronisator recipe is simple, and takes just a few hours to cook up: select a boat with a remotely-operated payload, plug in the Dronisator, set up, then sail.
The ingredients? Hardware-wise: a simple case (with antenna mast and control actuators) on board the remotely-operated unit, another similar case on land (or on another vessel), with another mast of directional antennae and a console supporting the HMI linked to the latter. This HMI enables simultaneous control of 3 Dronisators, thanks to a multiplexing process for various sensor flows (navigation commands, camera, sonar, radar, etc.).
The synthesis of multiple research and expertise in action
Easy to say, but the design of such a system is based on five years of patient, cooperative development, combining maritime culture and experience with cutting-edge knowledge of robotics, mechanics, electronics, telecommunications and shipbuilding. Dozens of obstacles have been encountered and overcome, and the know-how thus accumulated is a treasure trove that enriches each partner in the development of other similar applications. A case in point is the management of cyber-protection links, fundamental for a drone and dealt with in partnership with a local SME, LORCYBER, particularly relevant in the maritime dimension of the challenges.
For the demonstration, Safran offered to install the Vigy HD, a lightweight, compact, stabilized and high-performance naval observation system. The carrier chosen was the Exocet, a 500hp RIB made available by Prolarge, the company that designed the Dronisator 1.
Equipped with the Dronisator, Exocet sails away in full view of the audience, taking the Vigy on a detailed “inspection” of a cargo ship anchored under the island of Groix. The watercraft is soon out of visual range, and the HMI displays images from the vessel’s control tools, as well as those produced by the Vigy’s video (HD) and infrared cameras: all the external details and hot spots of the freighter appear perfectly usable on screen.
Safran systems engineer Frank Marchand explains, commenting on the live video, “Up to 10 km away from the craft, the Vigy allows us to see in HD or infrared video the details we need in order to identify a contact, and even handle it with the appropriate tools.”
An consistent assembly of specific softwares
The system is integrated: in addition to semi-automated safe navigation control adapted to the inertia and agility of its carrier, it enables useful loads to be connected and operated in a highly open way on a variety of vessels (river barges, sailing boats, rescue craft, etc.). It features autonomous high-speed communications, but thanks to the versatility of its connections, can also be plugged to available networks (satellites, 4G),
The system is intended to be easily customized to the parameters of the watercraft (weight, dimensions, motorization, etc.) and the available bandwidth while applying the regulations concerning boats of less than 16 meters length. It thus embeds an anti-collision system following the COLREG developed with OSE adjusted to the application of rules which were not initially written for computers.
OSE engineering is a center of digital expertise which employs 45 specialists to design and develop algorithms and digital technological bricks for all kinds of industrial applications. As its general director, Mikael Volut, explains, their mode of action is to combine operational experience data with the use of artificial intelligence to deploy IT solutions adapted to the exact needs of their customers.
For the Dronisator, OSE has developed the multi-track Obstacle Avoidance System (SEO) that follows navigation rules and is working on optimizing communications.
Promising prospects
The demonstration is convincing and successful, however the product presented remains a prototype whose finalization will require a few more months of effort from the various partners. The discussions during these two days with stakeholders from the maritime world, the military world, shipbuilding and river transport are relevant to better understand the expectations that such a tool could generate. From these conversations, production and industrialization methods will emerge in order to quickly make it available to interested partners or customers.
A new way for Keys 4 Sea to implement its philosophy: “feet in sea boots, hand on the soldering iron, head in innovation”
Contacts :
Drones & Océans : Thomas Lockhart, chairman, thomas.lockhart@dronesetoceans.com
Keys4sea : Vincent Hidden, business development director, vhidden@keys-4-sea.fr
OSE : Mikael VOLUT, OSE Engineering, general manager, mikael.volut@ose-engineering.fr
Safran Electronics & Defense: contact-defense@safrangroup.com