Coté Brest: The future is for swarms of drones

Published on cotebrest.fr, February 2017

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The future is for swarms of drones

The Naval School organized a meeting on 2 February 2017 in Lanvéoc on the theme of drones and autonomous systems. ECA Group was invited to participate and ECA Group hold a conference around the theme of "From Drones to Drone systemes, 50 years of innovation in the field of naval robotics"

Interview with Rozenn Desmare, lecturer in acoustics at the Naval School.

Why did you choose this theme?     

It is at the crossroads of all the research fields of the Naval School: fluid mechanics, acoustics, signal processing, computing ... The aim is to show our students the state of research on drones and autonomous systems , and the devices used. Speakers will be present as well as laboratories and companies such as DCNS or ECA Group.

What are the current uses of drones?  

These are essentially defense and security applications. But drones are also used in the fields of energy (off-shore, renewable marine energies), scientific research and the environment. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are most commonly used for site monitoring missions. They are programmed to carry out a trajectory at a certain depth and carry out surveys (analysis of soil, temperature, salinity ...). For example, AUVs are used to search for black boxes when aircraft crash at sea.

Lately, the Pentagon tested 103 minis drones flying in concert. Is it the future ?     

Indeed, we are moving towards homogeneous or heterogeneous packs of drones. In the first case, these are small identical drones. In the second, different types of equipment: submarine drones, surface vehicles, buoys ... The interest of packs or swarms of drones is multiple: it costs less, if one disappears, another can take over ... The future is also the development of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), in other words the boats without pilots.

Will robots therefore increasingly facilitate and secure the work of seafarers?     

It is certain that robots will carry out dangerous missions formerly devolved to men. This is the case, for example: demining. But one question arises: are we ready to entrust everything to robots?

Learn more about ECA Group solutions :

• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
• Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
• Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)