Denmark Tests Unmanned Robotic Sailboat Fleet (apnews.com) 10
Denmark has deployed four uncrewed robotic sailboats (known as "Voyagers") for a three-month trial to boost maritime surveillance amid rising tensions in the Baltic region. The Associated Press reports: Built by Alameda, California-based company Saildrone, the vessels will patrol Danish and NATO waters in the Baltic and North Seas, where maritime tensions and suspected sabotage have escalated sharply since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Two of the Voyagers launched Monday from Koge Marina, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Powered by wind and solar energy, these sea drones can operate autonomously for months at sea. Saildrone says the vessels carry advanced sensor suites -- radar, infrared and optical cameras, sonar and acoustic monitoring. Their launch comes after two others already joined a NATO patrol on June 6.
Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins compared the vessels to a "truck" that carries sensors and uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to give a "full picture of what's above and below the surface" to about 20 to 30 miles (30 to 50 kilometers) in the open ocean. He said that maritime threats like damage to undersea cables, illegal fishing and the smuggling of people, weapons and drugs are going undetected simply because "no one's observing it." Saildrone, he said, is "going to places ... where we previously didn't have eyes and ears." The Danish Defense Ministry says the trial is aimed at boosting surveillance capacity in under-monitored waters, especially around critical undersea infrastructure such as fiber-optic cables and power lines.
Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins compared the vessels to a "truck" that carries sensors and uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to give a "full picture of what's above and below the surface" to about 20 to 30 miles (30 to 50 kilometers) in the open ocean. He said that maritime threats like damage to undersea cables, illegal fishing and the smuggling of people, weapons and drugs are going undetected simply because "no one's observing it." Saildrone, he said, is "going to places ... where we previously didn't have eyes and ears." The Danish Defense Ministry says the trial is aimed at boosting surveillance capacity in under-monitored waters, especially around critical undersea infrastructure such as fiber-optic cables and power lines.
Ob. I for one... (Score:1)
Non-military use? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
People have been experimenting with using wind power to reduce maritime fuel consumption, a recent example being the Canopeé [wikipedia.org], used to transport parts of the Ariane 6 rocket, whose sails can cut its fuel usage in half. Adding sails to reduce fuel consumption make a huge deal of sense. However these drones don't have to carry a large cargo, just a sensor suite that's presumably as lightweight as possible, and I doubt the practically of using wind or wind/solar alone to power large ships. I'd be happy t
Re:Non-military use? (Score:5, Informative)
Well these are not very large, about the size of a car. So not exactly what you'd probably do for cargo drones. However Saildrone has been at this for awhile now. The the US Navy uses them for monitoring and detection as well. Organizations like NOAA use them for weather data gathering, a lot of other science like coral mapping and sea temperature tracking is also done with them. Minerals companies are using them generate topographic maps of large regions of sea bottom. These can carry some pretty advanced sensor packages.
Its pretty neat stuff.
So they made a nautic drone (Score:2)
Big deal...
Re:So they made a nautic drone (Score:4, Informative)
They just bought them. The company that makes them is close to selling them for 10 years now.
https://www.saildrone.com/ [saildrone.com]
Salvage laws (Score:1)
Re: Salvage laws (Score:3)
Salvage laws would not apply at all. Also salvage laws only allow you to be compensated for your recovery efforts, they do not allow you to keep what you salvaged. Taking a working drone would not be salvage, it would be theft/piracy.
Re: (Score:1)
What is the fin behind the main sail? (Score:2)
Manned sailboats don't have such fins, but they have canvas sails. Perhaps the fin helps with the aerodynamics of a rigid sail?
I would also like to know how they handle special sailing situations. How do they handle very high winds? Can they move the sail out of the way somehow? For example, move a weight up inside the sail and turn the boat 90 degrees to its side, or upside down)? How would they avoid running aground when they are near land and there is no wind? Can they drop anchor? Do they have