Page 27 - World Airnews Magazine May 2020 Edition

DRONES

requirements, most notably performance chemical agent release systems, towing Here are a few potential “technical hur-

and payloads. The potential hostility of systems, object release systems, and any dles” that may need solving along the way:
the marine environment should be borne other system imaginable to help get the • Performance

in mind when selecting the drone, and job done. • Vast flight areas and extended flight

the performance of the drone must meet The final factor to take into account when ranges

the most extreme task requirements. This selecting a drone for maritime work would • Long endurance/persistence

could include range and area to cover, be regulatory requirements, as applicable

the measure of persistence required, the to the work envisioned and the perceived • Communications ranges and related
minimum time required to reach a point of level of risk to third parties within the pro- technology (e.g. SATLINK for BRLOS

interest and altitude requirements. posed area of responsibility. SACAA Part operations)

Also to be factored in is overall robustness 101 should be consulted to help determine • Fast time-to-target (e.g. Maritime
of the drone, including the volatility of the any such requirements having a potential SAR and disaster support)

environment (the effects of strong wind, bearing on the selection of the drone type; • Performance in strong wind and low

corrosive effects, electromagnetic compat- best to do this before the drone is selected, ambient temperatures (icing conditions)

ibility, operation in precipitation, tempera- of course! • Special abilities

ture effects) and system reliability (quality of Whichever drone is going to be selected, • Ship-borne operation (storage, han-

design, components and assembly). the starting point is always a clear and dling, take-off, recovery)

If the drone is to be carried and oper- proper understanding of what the drone • Special propulsion requirements/

ated from a surface vessel (boat, ship) will be used for. This paves the way for all arrangements (confined ship-borne

the user should consider special design other requirements, and ultimately will operations)

characteristics to facilitate the aforemen- filter through to selection (or development) • Durability, reliability and dependability

tioned, including storage whilst at sea, of the most optimal drone type. • Corrosion resistance (marine envi-
ease of handling on-board the vessel, ronment)
launch method, recovery method, and so • Weather tolerance (moisture, sea
on. This could have a significant effect on TECHNICAL CHALLENGES salt, gusts, rain, low temperatures)

type selection, and may require selection The South African drone development • Quality of design, components and

of a drone of specific design (“purpose-de- industry is well-established, and many

signed”) or significant design changes to companies, both large and small, have assembly (vital to allow system avail-

an existing drone type. developed cutting-edge drones. These ability and dependability for critical

tasks, e.g. SAR, disaster support,

The selection of the payload will include not only ‘major industry’ role-play- security, etc)

be critical to ensure that the drone is ers, such as Denel Dynamics, Paramount
optimally utilised; after all, the drone is Advanced Technologies, the CSIR, Milkor, • Payload performance

simply the vehicle that carries the payload Epsilon and Tellumat, but also a plethora • Task-specific (custom payloads)

(which does the actual “work”) to the of smaller companies and SSMEs. Many of • Marine-optimised (good perfor-
place of importance. Without a proper- the systems produced by these developers mance in a marine environment)
ly-selected payload, the drone would be may be immediately useful for maritime • Marine-hardened (durability and

worthless. Payloads could include special work, or easily adaptable to meet specific reliability)

SAR payloads, marine-optimised camer- requirements. The list above is by no means conclusive,

as, marine-optimised thermal sensors, Regardless of who develops the drone, but gives an idea of the technical challeng-

rangefinders, traditional radars, synthetic the marine environment will inevitably add es that may need to be addressed to pro-

aperture radars, electronic signal inter- additional complexity to designs and may duce an effective and efficient unmanned

ception devices, dipping sonar, magnetic lead to the solving of a number of techno- system for operation within the marine

anomaly detectors, cargo containers, logical challenges. environment. Q
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