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Smart UAVs for the Energy Sector Innovative Aeronautics Team November 2012
Initial Hypothesis
Where we focus? On deploying smart UAVs for the Energy Sector and in particular for:
Which activities? Power lines inspections Gas & Oil pipelines imaging and monitoring
utilizing company-owned UAVs and personnel necessary for mission deployment, data acquisition and processing
Provide company-owned UAVs according to customer
specifications with/without the support personnel necessary for mission deployment, data acquisition and processing
Customer Segments
Which market we target?
Large energy producers, power grid management companies, natural gas & oil networks
market:
1. Hellenic Electricity Transmission System Operator S.A. 2. DEPA (Greek Natural Gas Monopoly) 3. Hellenic Petroleum 4. Public Power Corporation of Greece (biggest greek electric power company)
Would you invest to UAV solutions for your needs? If yes, what are your costs for your current solutions? Could you make a gross estimation of what you would be willing to pay for each service? What suggestions would make you more attracted to our services? If you do not want to buy our services can you describe us the reasons? Which risk factors you would recognize in such an investment? Give any other comments you want for our services
Could you analyze the areas in your industry where you think UAVs could provide solutions?
Potential interest for UAV solution to various fields from energy industries; The exact application fields & technical aspects where industries are willing to apply UAV solutions How our business prototype should be modified technically in order to fit the needs of the energy sector
cables
Discoloring of vegetation above pipelines Monitoring of temporary deposition of materials and agricultural products
problems when using inspection vehicles is the duration of their power supply. The longer the craft can stay operational the more lines/pipelines can be inspected. Current battery technology does not permit long durations of flight for small electrically driven UAVs.
Which solution is making our prototype suitable for the Energy Sector?
A novel approach that derives added value through the combination of
the advantages of two established types of UAVs: autonomous blimps quadrocopters which can be refueled on air by the blimps
system? Addresses the main shortcomings of autonomous blimps and quadrocopters as well, thus resulting in a holistic approach and efficient solution for most types of energy UAV applications. Provides high autonomy and mission range with lower cost.
Is the air-to-air UAV-Blimp refuelling system technically possible :
Answer: Yes. It is possible. In fact, it is a state-of-the-art technical
UAV Blimp
Superior
Advantages
increased payload and range quiet and obstructive (for the public)
operation
stationary surveillance capability
low cost to manufacture and maintain
capability
very low cost to manufacture and maintain
In that manner, aerial surveillance in macroand micro-level can be attained simultaneously, thus optimally satisfying the requirements for most energy missions. Effectively all aerial surveillance applications (3d mapping, predictive maintenance for energy grids, corridor mapping, public safety, remorse sensing, etc, necessary for the application fields) can be executed in a most efficient manner.
Software Development Flight Testing Autonomous Operation & HIL Business Plan
Iron-bird & UAV construction UAV shakedown Mission Testing Missions with prospective clients
Fund raising
UAV Mission
Use of UAV Airship deployed on site Ground station mission support 1-man support team on ground station Minimal running/logistic costs No security issues/ v. low insurance Excellent data measurements Between 6-9hrs single session deployment before refueling Mission costs 5k per day!
economic similarities with the greek energy sector. But in general all the global energy field could be a potential market.
We discovered that all the basic functionalities of our prototype can apply to a large
Applications
A.Government (law enforcement, border- & coastguard) B.Fire Fighting (forest fires, Search And Rescue) C.Energy Sector (oil and gas industry, electricity networks) D.Earth Observation and Remote Sensing (climate monitoring, mapping and surveying) E.Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (environmental monitoring, crop dusting)
D 13% C 10%
E F 6% 1%
A 45%
B 25%
"A civil market for UAVs is beginning to emerge over the next decade, starting first with governmental organizations" World UAV Forecast, Teal Group, 2010
2013 1705
213 19
2014 2,950
310 37
2015 2,837
364 56
2016 2,612
479 76
2017
3,308 435 80
2018
3,811 459 74
2019
3,761 497 56
Total
27,793 3,436 446
Mini-UAVs
Tactical UAVs Naval VTUAVs MALE UAVs HALE UAVs
2,432
180 10
2,532
258 22
1,845
241 16
95
7
51
11
59
6
63
11
84
14
76
15
70
16
84
18
76
20
63
18
721
136
UCAVs
Civil UAVs Total
1
237 2,962
4
228 3,106
1
278 2,446
260 2,271
253 3,648
6
278 3,632
5
306 3,564
12
327 4,264
16
333 4,789
15
398 4,748
60
2,898 35,430
(Value, $ Millions)
Mini-UAVs Tactical UAVs
2010
96.4 772.0
2011
126.9 1,164.5
2012
118.6 955.0
2013
185.2 627.5
2014
211.8 782.5
2015
215.1 720.5
2016
230.1 536.0
2017
286.2
2018
287.3
2019
286.2
Total
2,043.6
367.0 374.5
595.5 1,292.0
1,060.0 1,445.0 440.5 5,486.2
510.0 6,809.5
417.5 1,215.0
1,060.0 1,475.0 588.3 5,551.9
55.0 973.0
830.0 15.0 156.0 2,897.4
158.0 1,423.0
810.0 150.0 180.0 3,947.4
114.0 1,207.0
995.0 85.0 301.8 3,776.4
158.0 1,058.0
1,195.0 100.0 305.3 3,629.0
298.5 1,212.0
1,225.0 125.0 361.0 4,215.8
528.0 1,188.0
1,185.0 545.0 525.3 4,906.9
564.0 1,030.0
1,210.0 675.0 485.5 4,730.6
560.5 1,337.0
1,060.0 1,685.0 447.3 5,751.5
3,449.0 11,935.0
10,630.0 6,300.0 3,790.8 44,892.9
To study this new possibility for our project we had a number of face-toface interviews with the following government institutions and nongovernment organizations:
Greek Ministry of Environment Greek Forest Administration Service WWF Hellas Greek Ministry of Agriculture Callisto Environmental Organization
All the institutions considered our proposal appealing and thy were highly motivated to discuss technical details For some of the potentials of environmental monitoring there are no current alternative solutions They were unable to provide an estimation of current costs suggesting that this is a complex issue They were considering difficult the financing of such innovative projects.
It cannot provide an estimation of the total market since it concerns a totally new field The complete legal framework for civil UAVs is still under review
While at the same time it referred to the strong interest of European Union in funding such projects in collaboration with the private sector and public institutions In general, environmental monitoring using UAVs is a new field with high potential but difficulties to estimate the exact market size. Our interviews will continue towards this direction the coming weeks
Marketing Strategy
Based on our interviews with the energy industries we
realized that the best marketing approaches to make our services attractive would be by using the following promotion channels:
Aerospace Fairs Direct Marketing on the basis of existing references Specialized media Academic Conferences Journals to present our technical
aproach
perception (e.g. legal frame that will allow air-traffic blend-in for fully autonomous UAVs already elaborated) Low probability of economical conditions affecting the emerging UAV market (massive cost reduction!) Very low probability of social disapproval for civil UAV technologies (significant advances in public benefit, advances in personnel safety, environmentally friendly technology, positive image) Very low probability of technology advances rendering UAV uses obsolete (instead, help to establish autonomous technologies in civil applications)
development, inferior starting point Big aerospace manufacturers: over-occupied with existing markets, focus on military applications for UAVs
Currently, only a very limited number of small companies are