Drone is separated & united!What is KDDI's "Water Air Union Drone" that flies in the sky and dies through the sea?

A drone that is active in various places, such as aerial photography, transporting supplies, and confirming disaster sites.But the place is not just the sky.

This is the "Water Slow Combined Drone".It is an integrated drone flying in the air and a drone that sails underwater, and is a new system that can maintain ships and monitor and inspect facilities on the sea more safely and more conveniently.

The water -air combined drone is controlled using a KDDI "smart drone" platform that can be remotely controlled using radio waves of a mobile network.

The aerial drone with six propellers is the "master unit".In the lower cage, an underwater drone, which is a "slave unit", is stored.The master unit flew to the desired location and landed, and separated the slave unit.The slave sails in the sea and transmits images in the sea to the operator in real time.Then, the master unit collects the child unit again, leaves the destination and returns.

The water aircraft combined drone is a project by KDDI, Prodele, and KDDI Research Institute.It was announced on June 10, 2021 at "Japan Loan 2021" and succeeded in shooting remotely on November 17.On December 14 of the same year, a demonstration was released at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Yokohama.

In this article, I would like to explain the mechanism of the "smart drone" and delve into what kind of genre the water aircraft combined drone can be used in the future.

The water air united drone makes the monitoring and inspection work of facilities at the sea much easier than the current situation.Until now, maintenance of the bottom of the ship, inspection of the sea of offshore wind power generation facilities, and maintaining the underwater facilities, such as monitoring of aquaculture facilities, will go to the desired location by boat, then divers dive or underwater drones.Was common.

In the water -aired drone, an aerial drone flies to the desired location, and an underwater drone sails instead of a diver.Moreover, the operator does not need to go to the site because the underwater status taken by the drone can be confirmed from a remote location.Significant improvements can be expected in terms of cost, work efficiency, and diver safety.

KDDI has been developing a smart drone since 2016.Unlike conventional drones that are piloted while looking at the aircraft, a smart drone can be operated on a unique operation management system that uses a mobile communication network from a remote location without seeing a drone.

The drone flies autonomously as the course set on the map of the drone service app.In the unlikely event, it is possible to manually control it remotely.

The water air united drone lands after autonomously flies to the destination, and automatically separates underwater drones, a slave unit.Underwater drones are controlled through a cable connected to the air drone floating on the sea.

The underwater drone camera shoots underwater, and is distributed through a communication cable to a real -time landing from a marine unit.

In addition, the communication cable is also a lifeline for underwater drones, and returns to the original cage by winding up with a winch.

The water air united drone is equipped with an acoustic positioning device.As a result, the position of the slave unit in the water can be identified and displayed on the map through the master unit.

GPS signals that identify location information on land do not reach underwater.As a result, underwater drone control was to rely on visual visuals.However, this time, the KDDI Research Institute has developed an ultra -small acoustic positioning device that receives the sound of underwater drones by the air drone at sea.

By synthesizing the location information of the master unit specified by the GPS and the location information of the underwater slide unit, the position of the underwater drone can be identified, and it can be confirmed from land.

The position of the underwater drone is very important.Depending on the transparency in the sea, it was difficult to control only the video from the camera, and the positional relationship between the monitoring and the drone was often unknown.However, if the underwater drone is identified, maneuvering is safer.

Here is a video that summarizes the entire water air united drone.

We asked Tomoaki Matsuki, the KDDI Drone Business Promotion Group, who has been working on a smart drone for six years and planning and developing a water aircraft combined drone, about why the project background and the reason for the telecommunications company to work on the drone.

"KDDI, a telecommunications company, is working on smart drones because it can be used in various fields as an infrastructure that supports daily life by combining with mobile communication.

By combining drones with mobile communication, you can remotely control long -distance flights.There is no need to pilot visually, and you can fly an flight instruction from anywhere in the country and see the video.

From logistics to searching for disasters and infrastructure maintenance, people can do it automatically without moving directly to the location.In the Water Service Combined Drone, we want to expand that area into water.

KDDI has been laying and maintenance for many years, laying and maintenance, which is responsible for international communication such as the Internet and international sports events.Among those know -how, the idea of sending underwater drone images to a 4G LTE from the water master unit was born.

Automatic inspection and monitoring with smart drones have already been commercialized.We are also developing the water aircraft united drone to help everyone involved in the sea. "

Proklone has developed the world's first aircraft combined drone aircraft.We asked Kiichi Sugaki, the company, about the demand for underwater monitoring by drones and the points of development.

"At the request from the fishery test site, I have been investigating the growth state of kelp and algae in the sea, and the spawning place for herring and hockey.

The landing -type drone is already being used for research on marine plants and seawater, and can be used as a research equipment in the field of blue carbon (reduction in the sea in the sea).Now, the demand for drones in various monitoring and inspections in the sea is definitely increasing.

These surveys will be carried out with a camera under the aircraft of the aircraft in the air.Some models have a camera fixed to the bottom of the aircraft, while some models can lower the camera to a depth of 5m with a cable, and the water air united drone can be said to be the latter evolution, but the biggest difference is the underwater child unit.Powerful point.The marine plane is pulled.Also, if the sea is rough, the parent unit will be covered and will affect the sailing of the slave unit.

Therefore, by devising the parent unit in the float of floating on the sea, we have been able to keep the position to some extent for the sea current and high waves.In the future, we are considering retaining the position by installing a screw in the master unit and operating according to the wave wind. "

The KDDI Research Institute has been able to identify underwater drones using acoustic positioning technology.We asked Ryoichi Kawada of the KDDI Research Institute, who was in charge of this technology, about the specific importance in the water.

"The acoustic positioning technology that uses sound in the sea to identify the position is existing. For example, a signal from the acoustic generator mounted on the seabed exploration robot is caught by the sound receiving device attached to the bottom of the ship and the robot.I captured the position, but the equipment itself was huge.

This time, we succeeded in developing the world's smallest class equipment.This is because KDDI's submarine cable robot technology has accumulated.

In the future, underwater drones will be easier to control, but you will be able to share underwater coordinates in the work process.For example, in the case of checking the bottom of the ship, the underwater drone is in advance for the presence or absence of a problem, and then the diver dies to repair it.Can be identified.

We are also conducting research that can abolish cables and control underwater drones more freely.Instead of radio waves that cannot be understood underwater, the light of the blue LED is emitted from the master unit and underwater drones are controlled.If this is realized, the degree of freedom of navigation in the water will increase dramatically. "

A smart drone that operates more long distances in remote control and autonomous flights, connects the lives of people away from places, and make everyday life more convenient.Both KDDI, Prodele, and KDDI Research Institute are busy with R & D to further evolve.

"The water -air combined drone that has been demonstrated this time is still a demonstration aircraft, and it is not yet possible to operate in the waters with high waves, and it is not yet possible to provide demonstration in the actual waters in the future.By responding quickly, we will realize commercialization faster than anywhere else. "(KDDI Matsuki)

The water air united drone is aiming for practical use during this year.

Smart drones will evolve further in the future, monitor and explore more safely from remote areas, and will support logistics in mountainous areas and remote islands that have never been reached.KDDI will continue to use communication technology to solve various issues in society and life.