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- Strategic Elements (SOR) subsidiary Stealth Technologies has signed a collaboration deal with drone tech company, Planck AeroSystems
- The six-month agreement will see the companies working to enable drones to autonomously launch and land from autonomous vehicles
- Stealth has been developing an Autonomous Security Vehicle (ASV) for use in perimeter security in sectors like transport, energy and defence
- Planck’s Autonomous Control Engine (ACE) enables autonomous launch, recovery, relative navigation, and mission planning from a moving vehicle
- The marriage of the mobile vehicle with drones will allow their datasets to be combined for enhanced mapping, navigation and tracking
- The perimeter security sector is growing steadily, with a projected worth of US$282.26 billion (around A$395 billion) by 2025
- Strategic Elements is trading 4.35 per cent higher for 12 cents
Strategic Elements (SOR) subsidiary Stealth Technologies has signed a collaboration agreement with U.S.-based company, Planck AeroSystems.
Eyes in the sky
The six-month agreement will see the companies working to enable drones to autonomously launch and land from the Stealth ground-based autonomous vehicle platform.
Stealth has been developing an Autonomous Security Vehicle (ASV) for use in perimeter security in the transport, energy, defence, government and utility sectors.
The collaboration will focus on enabling the ASV to launch and land drones using Planck’s Autonomous Control Engine (ACE) to enable autonomous launch, recovery, relative navigation, and mission planning from a moving vehicle.
The ACE system has been deployed successfully in unmanned aircraft, enabling centimetre-accurate take-off and landing capabilities.
The marriage of the mobile vehicle with drones will allow their datasets to be combined for enhanced mapping and navigation, as well as tracking and recognition of objects and people.
Having a mobile vehicle with drone launch, landing and recharging capabilities will significantly enhance the coverage offered by the ASV alone.
The companies will also assess the potential of integrating mobile tethered drones with the ASV, giving additional deployment options for drone-equipped ASVs to work at facilities near controlled airspaces like airports.
Ground-tethered drones can only fly from a single location, whereas drones tethered from the ASV could be mobile and move with the ASV while airborne.
Key terms
Planck will provide the ACE technology for integration into Stealth autonomous vehicles, and any other technologies agreed by the parties.
The companies will explore commercial, industrial and defence applications and opportunities together for potential product rollout.
Plank will grant Stealth a royalty-free, non-exclusive, license to use the ACE platform for the length of the collaboration.
Stealth will pay Planck for any hardware used in the collaboration, while any other financial requirements for the project will be negotiated as they arise.
The ACE system has already been deployed across five U.S. federal agencies and has commanded thousands of successful sorties both at sea and from vehicles, on unmanned aircraft from many different manufacturers.
The combination of the ACE technology with Stealth’s ASV could open many doors in the growing perimeter security sector, which is projected to be worth US$282.26 billion (around A$395 billion) by 2025.
Strategic Elements is trading 4.35 per cent higher for 12 cents at 12:30pm AEDT.
