How can you best map network coverage above the North Sea? That’s the key question driving the work of start-up Drocean. They are working on a coverage map using professional drones. Over the past few months, they have been able to validate and further refine their concept with support from Do IoT Fieldlab. The outcome? They are now ready to create the coverage map. Drocean founder Nathan Janssen looks back:
“As a technician, I specialise in drone inspections at sea. More and more organisations are looking for clear insights: which parts of the North Sea have 4G and 5G coverage, and to what extent? That’s what I aim to map. But it’s not something I can do alone. I need input from various experts, ranging from knowledge of measurement equipment to in-depth expertise in connectivity. With the help and expertise of Do IoT Fieldlab, I was able to connect with the right people. It’s great to make use of these connections rather than having to search for them on my own.”
Out of sight
Creating a coverage map, or mapping the connectivity across the North Sea, is quite a challenge. The first obstacle is that current legislation does not allow flying “Behind Visual Line of Sight” (BVLOS). In other words, a drone pilot must always keep the drone in sight. That is why Do IoT Fieldlab connected Drocean with Unmanned Valley, a testing location in South Holland where drone companies experiment with, for example, a 5G installation. Recently, the Dutch government granted permission to accelerate the opening of a designated corridor over the North Sea, where Unmanned Valley will be allowed to conduct flights even when the drone is out of the pilot’s sight.
Wide range of applications
This step is crucial to enable flights further offshore. Nathan:
“The market is eager for solutions, both commercial companies and governments. Think of inspecting wind turbines, transporting life-saving medicines to islands, or even using drones for national security. We can only fly drones safely over the sea if we know what the coverage is like. As soon as a drone loses contact with the pilot, it returns to its starting point for safety reasons. This is not desirable in an operational setting; connection should never be an obstacle to drone operation. We are fully prepared to resolve this issue. We have validated the hardware, compared our data with other data sources, and are now ready to scale up. We are working with a number of experts to finalise the details of our software.”
Nathan has a clear plan for actually “mapping” the North Sea. Step by step, he wants to work towards a total of ten drones collecting data, starting with three. Compared to the current small-scale field tests of 300 measurement points, Drocean can scale up to meet the vast scope of the North Sea and deploy the drones at various altitudes across a grid of tens of thousands of points. The first output will be a basic coverage map. If companies or governments then have a specific question about a sub-area of the North Sea, Drocean can create detailed customised maps.
Drocean has no shortage of ambition. Nathan:
“We believe in the power of private networks for customised solutions. I want to stay ahead of the market and, with Do IoT Fieldlab, I can already prepare for the arrival of 6G. The first BVLOS test flights in the designated area are expected next year. And once the regulations allow it, we’ll be ready for take off!’