Little high flyers with loads of potential

Drones are a hot topic right now. Austrian high-tech companies and research institutes can play a big role here.

For a long time, unmanned aerial vehicles were the stuff of science fiction movies. But by now they have become reality and are flying high both physically and metaphorically. An analysis of the Hamburg-based consultation agency Drone Industry Insights shows that the civil drone sector turned over about 14 billion US dollars in 2018. In 2019, that figure rose to roughly 20 billion and by 2024 the agency expects an increase to 43 billion. One of the main reasons for this development is that drones are becoming smaller and smaller, more lightweight and easier to handle. This concept turned the Chinese manufacturer Da Jiang International Sciences and Technology (DJI) in only a few years from an ambitious startup into a global market leader. This success is not necessarily considered positive in the United States and Europe, where there is a lot of effort to become the drivers of research and development. A new study by consultants Roland Berger shows that there are about 110 projects, half of them in Europe, that deal with the usability of drones in the transport sector.

Austrian initiative

There are also other areas where drones are becoming increasingly important and which are being tackled by numerous companies and research institutes. They include the inspection of industrial plants and infrastructures, land surveying, aerial photography, stock-taking, supporting rescue workers, pinpoint pest control in agriculture and traffic surveillance.

In Austria, drones first cropped up in 2007 with basic research, exploring fields of applications and regulations for their integration into new mobility concepts. The AirLabs project was created in early 2020 and should give drone research additional tailwind.

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology supports the establishment and operation of test infrastructures for drones within the “Take Off” aviation programme, which is the national RTI (research, technology and innovation) programme for civil aviation. AIRlabs Austria covers research and development, validation and deployment of unmanned aircraft in a real environment across all technology levels. A total of over four million euros will be invested in the five-year project, two million of which will come from the Research Promotion Agency (Forschungsfördergesellschaft FFG).

Taking off

“Airlabs will contribute significantly to the development and testing of new technologies for future mobility. With its help, Austria can position itself not only as a test region for autonomous driving but also for au-

Photo: AAU/Daniel Waschnig

The fleet of drone service provider Skyability from Burgenland feature a new laser scanning system which was developed in Austria.

tonomous flying and as an international centre of excellence for future mobility,” says Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Secretary for Economy and Research at the Styrian Provincial Government.

Michael Holzbauer, who manages the stake of Frequentis in the AirLabs activities, adds: “AirLabs Austria is not only focusing its efforts around its Austrian business location, it is also positioning itself internationally as a pioneer in drone research. The UAS innovation laboratory plays an important role, particularly in view of the EU regulations of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which come into force in early 2021.”

In addition to the six partners FACC Operations GmbH, Frequentis AG, AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, University of Applied Sciences Carinthia, University of Technology Graz and University of Applied Sciences Joanneum, there are another 19 members of a consortium involved in the project, among them Riegel Laser Measurement Systems, die Post AG, A1 Telekom Austria AG, die Rail Tec Arsenal Fahrzeugversuchsanlage.

Modern infrastructure as an asset

The University of Klagenfurt takes up a special position within the AirLabs projects. It has been researching unmanned aerial vehicles for more than ten years and owns Europe’s largest drone testing hangar as of late 2019.

“We need the right infrastructure to develop technological advancements. Drone research faces major logistical and technological challenges as air space is fairly tight in Austria, making test flights for drones impossible in many areas. Therefore, we need protected spaces such as this 1,300 sqm big hangar, which provides our research teams with the best conditions to try out new technologies,” says Stephan Weiss, Professor at the Institute for Intelligent System Technologies. He heads the group “Control of Networked Systems,” which researches new drone flight technologies such as camera-based navigation, i.e. without GPS.

A modern infrastructure is not only a necessity for the University of Klagenfurt, where currently about 30 researches deal with drones. It also opens up numerous possibilities for other institutions and companies. “Opening the hangar to external players will offer everyone involved valuable insights and experiences, allowing us to define future drone technologies together,” says Weiss.

Research location Austria

On top of that, a number of open-air test areas all over Austria, e.g. in Upper Carinthia and in Styria, are planned as part of the AirLabs project.

“The drone test sites allow us to view drone missions in a variety of ways under real-life conditions, for example, in different

weather situations or over long distances. It also gives us the opportunity to validate the safety and advantages of this technology,” explains Joachim Edel, Managing Director of AirLabs Austria GmbH.

Improving flight behaviour

Austrian scientists are also researching unmanned aerial vehicles outside the AirLabs project. The research project “BioKollAvoid” started recently at the Institute for Biology at the University of Graz and aims to transfer the flight behaviour of locusts onto drones.

“The motion-sensitive eyes of a locust allow almost for a 360-degree-view. They react reflexively to the quick expansion of the edges of approaching objects. That way, individual locusts in a swarm of up to ten million insects are able to skilfully avoid obstacles without colliding with one another,” explains zoologist Manfred Hartbauer, who heads the project.

This anti-collision behaviour can be monitored by attaching electrodes to two neurons that are sitting on the nerve cords of locusts, called the collision detector neurons. “We show them different scenarios via two curved monitors, like in an IMAX cinema. In case of a potential collision, certain nerve fibres are triggered, which in turn creates a sequence of electric potentials. We are recording them and process the data,” Hartbauer says.

This data is then stored as an algorithm in a chip by researchers at the University of Applied Sciences and IT experts from Drone Rescue Systems. The aim is to present a first demo drone with an optical collision sensor in October 2021.

Practical use

Another research project, which is already seeing practical use, is the joint venture “StrucInspect” by companies Palfinger, VCE and Angst Group. It is an innovative concept for the inspection of buildings in inaccessible locations, combining drones, sensor systems and artificial intelligence. It has already been used in monitoring the Falkenstein Bridge in Carinthia, one of Austria’s longest railway bridges. In October 2019, “StrucInspect” has also won the Iceberg Innovation Leadership Award of the Austrian Innovation Forum.

“We can make use of the full data potential with the help of neural systems and deep learning models. Picture classification and object recognition are so precise that we are able to identify tears down to one millimetre. This allows for a highly exact diagnosis of the bridge’s condition,” says Arne Ragoßnig, Managing Director of Angst Group.

Increased interest

Attempts to use drones for parcel delivery are still in the early stages and pilot phases, however. Similar to DHL and Amazon, the Austrian Post has already carried out a number of mildly successful projects that attracted media attention. But we are still far away from replacing postmen and parcel deliverers with drones. However, the use of drones is still being considered by the Austrian Post, even though for now the company focuses on heavy duty drones to be used in logistics centres.

Overall, experts in the transport sector see a future use for drones. Philipp Knopf, co-founder and Managing Director at Skyability, agrees.

However, there is still a number of legal and safety-related issues that need to be solved. Knopf has a positive outlook for the entire sector, though: “Drones have become a hot topic in many fields. But you can’t expect that they will do inspections, mappings, thermography, spray pesticides, logistics etc. all on their own. However, they can help in many areas in a very efficient way.”

The start-up from Burgenland, which was founded in 2015 and won the province’s Innovation Award twice, has definitely been benefitting from the rising demand in drones: “We have been grow-

Photo: Uni Graz/Joel Kernasenko Manfred Hartbauer and Konstantinos Kostarakos of the University of Graz

ing continuously and we see more and more potential thanks to sustainable cooperation with large clients. We currently employ nine people for the operation of drones, data logging, evaluation and processing.”

The company is also relieved to say that the negative effects of the Covid crisis – at least until the middle of the year – have been considerably less dramatic than originally feared. Only a few projects were cancelled or postponed due to the travel restrictions within Austria and the neighbouring countries. Overall, Knopf sees his company in a good position: On the one hand, Skyability specialises in classic surveying and services for the industrial sector such as roof and plant inspections, construction site documentation and stock-keeping in the timber sector. On the other hand, the company offers solutions for the increasing digitisation in public authorities.

Digitising cities in Austria and abroad

This work includes collecting data on nature in defined areas to evaluate danger zones. “So far, we worked on such projects in about 15 communities and cities in Burgenland, Lower Austria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Styria, for example for flood prevention and surface draining,” says Knopf. “The largest area our drones covered in Austria was 33 square kilometres in size. There is also big interest among communities in Austria and abroad to digitise their cemeteries. We have already done 250 such projects.”

The Skyability drones are equipped with the VUX1-UAV laser scanning system from Riegl Laser Measurement from Horn in Lower Austria. The laser beam, which hits the ground with a diameter of ten centimetres, can gather information even on objects it brushed and on parts of buildings that are covered in vegetation. Therefore, the drone is able to get a gapless model of an area despite thick overgrow. This allows for the calculation of a detailed digital copy that is true to scale or a 3D print.

Furthermore, Skyability is flying its drones for the Austrian-Chinese research project SmaCiSe, which is compiling microclimate and air quality models for urban areas. Currently, most studies and building simulations in this field focus on individual buildings and use simple and standardised assumptions for the building’s environment. “To achieve optimal results, it is essential to extend these studies to microclimatic entities, including several buildings as well as their surroundings,” Knopf explains. “The findings of this project make it possible to simulate heat islands when planning areas in cities and communities, and in turn to calculate relief factors for individual places. Wells, green spaces, artificial and natural shading and even the surface of facades are being taken into consideration.” ◆