Ultranav has decided to invest in a small drone startup company called Upteko. They are specialised in the maritime industry by developing a drone system solution to live on the ship or ashore, to connect port operations on the ground and at the sea, with insight from the sky. The system includes a drone and a charging station for the drone to be installed on the ship and the drone can autonomously perform a variety of tasks and then fly back and charge its batteries while staying protected against the weather.
With an in-depth understanding of the challenges that the maritime industries face in attempting long and expensive inspections and other operational tasks, Upteko’s software and hardware drone system allows a 100% automatic inspection of a ship in less than two hours with the extra benefit of saving CO2.
The software
The drone system will be managed and controlled through an app hoisted on a tablet. The intuitive interface will be the point of contact between the user and the drone system. Through this app the crew will be able to command the drone to perform a variety of services, such as inspections, docking assistance, mapping of large areas or search and rescue missions.
The drone
The drone is safe, robust and built for the maritime sector. It is built to withstand the harsh conditions at sea with winds up to 20 m/s, and temperatures from -10 to +45 Celsius degrees. The drone is constructed from strong composite materials and can have different payloads attached, such as high-resolution cameras, thermal or RGB cameras for inspections, etc.
The charging station
The charging station is made for being installed in a harsh environment in large vessels or other suitable platforms across industries. The system can be installed on vessels without interfering with existing safety systems and allows the drone to autonomously dock itself for charging and storage when it is not preforming its operations.
Examples of drone services
Examples of existing/under development projects:
Offshore and energy segment:
- Windmill inspection
- Solar cell inspection
Maritime:
- Docking/undocking
- Search and rescue
- Oil spill detection
- Fire hazard inspection
- Package delivery
- Shipside inspection
- Perimeter patrol
Ultranav – in some cases jointly with Ultramar – can assist developing:
- Hold survey
- Stevedore damages survey
- Internal inspections
- Draft survey
- Night navigation in restricted ports
- Ice navigation
- Whale watch in the arctic
- Gas slippage on gas carriers
- …as well as a variety of other services – only our imagination will set the limit.
About Upteko
Upteko™ was founded in 2018 by Mads Joergensen, Benjamin Mejnertz, and Sebastian Duus to pursue the opportunity of developing drone applications for the maritime sector. For Benjamin and Sebastian, it started as a hobby, competing in RC Helicopter competitions around the world and later became a business worth pursuing. Mads came onboard, and together they created Upteko and built a great team of experienced drone pilots, software and hardware engineers, and business developers. Today, Upteko has offices located in Copenhagen, Odense and Skanderborg. Through several years of collaborating with our customers, complementary assets providers, and even competitors, we have achieved priceless partnership within the maritime and other
sectors. Upteko is about using creativity and initiative to become leaders in the drone industry. Upteko currently employs 21 people in 3 locations in Denmark.
We encourage you to share any idea for how we can benefit from the use of drones in our operation. Feel free to reach out to Per Lange (per.lange@ultranav.dk) who will join the Upteko Advisory Board.