RTU students are developing an underwater drone that can perform survey and search operations in Latvian climatic conditions, as well as obtain various types of data and information about the water ecosystem in real time.
There is industry interest for the students’ work—a start-up company, «SUBmerge Baltic» has been created for the commercialization of the underwater drone.
Potential uses of the drone are vast—from surveying piers and bodies of water, construction monitoring, helping police locate crime evidence, and detection of pollution, for example.
Underwater drones are also transforming missing person operations—enabling speedier rescues with the potential to save more lives.
Unfortunately, Latvia is consistently tops in Europe for drownings per capita with dozens of deaths, both in summer and in winter when fishermen fall through the ice. With the help of these drones, rescue teams can search for missing people before their water difficulties become water tragedies.
The drone is specially designed for Latvian and Baltic conditions, where water visibility is poor. It is equipped with a camera that provides high-resolution real-time data and various sensors that determine the drone's location, movement, and depth.
«Sensors can be divided into two parts. There are sensors that are needed to guide the submarine, determine its location, and sensors that are needed to perform specific tasks. The drone is designed as a modular solution to which it is possible to add the sensors required by customers, for example, for measuring water quality, creating 3D images and maps,» said RTU Riga Business School student Toms Rožkalns.
As the students continue to improve the functionality of the underwater drone, they intend to incorporate image enhancement technology and underwater control. The drone is currently managed with a controller, but the plan is to make it an autonomous floating vehicle in the future.
While developing the solution, the students had the opportunity to meet with the world’s leading underwater drone specialists, study the relationship between science and industry, learned about the needs of the local industry, and participated in several activities of the Student Innovation Grant Program implemented by the Science and Innovation Center of RTU and in the «Climate-KIC» project of the climate knowledge and innovation community of the European Institute of Innovation Technologies.
They also acquired 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 Center and the open innovation movement «VEFRESH.»
«In Latvia, we lack know-how in this field,» said RTU Electrical and Environmental Engineering student Kārlis Bērziņš.
He added, «During City to Sea, we met six great teams working in the field of water solutions. Our goal now is to create a commune of water solutions, where we could share experience and information about various water technologies, build know-how in Latvia and develop the industry.»
