Riga Technical University (RTU) students are developing an underwater drone that can carry out survey and search operations in Latvian climatic conditions, as well as obtain various types of data and information about the aquatic ecosystem in real time. The students' work is of interest to the industry and a start-up company SUBmerge Baltic has been set up to commercialise the underwater drone.
"The applications are wide-ranging - surveying different bodies of water, search work, monitoring construction sites, pollution detection. For example, our drone can be used by ports that need to carry out surveys of berths," says Kārlis Bērziņš, a student at RTU's Faculty of Electrical and Environmental Engineering. "Latvia is the record leader in Europe in terms of the number of drowned people. Surveying water bodies for missing people is another function that our drone can perform," he continues.
The drone has been designed specifically for Latvian and Baltic conditions, where visibility in water bodies is poor. It has enhanced visibility. The drone is equipped with a camera that provides high-resolution real-time data and various sensors that detect the drone's position, movement, measure depth.
"The sensors can be divided into two parts. There are sensors that are needed to control the submarine, to determine its position, and sensors that are needed for specific tasks. The drone is designed as a modular solution, to which it is possible to add the sensors required by the customer, for example, for water quality measurements, 3D imaging and mapping," adds Toms Rožkalns, a student at RTU Riga Business School.
To further improve the functionality of the underwater drone, the students plan to develop image enhancement technology and underwater control. Currently, it is controlled by a controller, but in the future they plan to make it an autonomous floating vehicle.
In developing the solution, the students have both adopted foreign experience - visiting the world's leading experts in underwater drone development, studying science-industry cooperation - and explored the needs of the local industry. They also used RTU support tools for innovation and business idea development - participated in several activities of the RTU Science and Innovation Centre's Student Innovation Grant Programme and the European Institute of Innovation Technologies' Climate-KIC project. This year they gained new knowledge and skills in the first mobility and water innovation accelerator "City to Sea", implemented by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia in cooperation with the RTU Science and Innovation Centre and the open innovation movement "VEFRESH".
"We lack know-how in this field in Latvia. "During City to Sea we met six great teams working in the field of water solutions. Our goal now is to build a water solutions community where we can share experience and information on different water technologies, build know-how in Latvia and develop the industry," says Mr Bērziņš.
Photo credits - RTU
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