Key Takeaways

• The typical drones that are used in commercial operations also have technical limitations that can prevent them from operating in challenging atmospheric conditions.
• Commercial drone deliveries such as shore-to-ship drone operations are typically allowed only during daytime hours because of technical and operational difficulties when flying them at night.
• Another pain point for shore-to-ship drone delivery operators are the multiple requirements and licenses needed to operate in the highly-regulated drone market environment.

Introduction

Technological and Structural Drone Operation Pain Points

• As the drone technology for this type of operation is still new, there might be some unknown risks that might impact the complete operation.
• The typical drones that are used in commercial operations also have technical limitations that can prevent them from operating in challenging atmospheric conditions.
• Some drone types also have endurance and speed constraints due to their designs.
• The way drones are typically designed and equipped can also prevent them from landing on rocking or moving ships even when these are anchored.
• Standard drones also lose signals from typical 4G networks when they are 2-3 km. from the shore. If used in shore-to-ship services, these drones can lose their navigation data and might not reach their target vessel destinations.
• To address this, companies that provide shore-to-ship drone operation services need to retrofit their drones to use a GPS navigation system instead. They also have to be equipped with advanced computer-vision software. The software can take over to handle the landing operation once the drone reached the target vessel.
•  Additional technologies also need to support the drones to completely address these limitations. Some of the supporting features that can be added include multi-auto-pilot systems, main hardware systems redundancies, additional airspeed sensors, multiple rotors, and other options.

Night-time Operations

• Commercial drone deliveries such as shore-to-ship drone operations are typically allowed only during daytime hours because of technical and operational difficulties when flying them at night.
• This pain point might prevent providers from fully meeting the demands of ports globally to provide a 24/7 service. It will be tough to compete with small ship delivery services that can provide this 24/7.
• This pain point can be further dealt with by ensuring the complete and regular testing of the drones that will be used like what F-drone did.
• Data from these tests also need to be gathered to detect any risk or potential concerns that need to be addressed urgently.

Stringent Regulations in the Industry

• Another pain point for shore-to-ship drone delivery operators are the multiple requirements and licenses needed to operate in the highly-regulated drone market environment.
• There are many policies and regulations that need to be complied with before the operation can proceed.
• On top of this, there are also international boundary regulations that need to be addressed as these operations typically need to cross inter-country borders.
• These regulations can then post some risk to the continuity of the drone business operations.
• Non-compliance with these regulations can also result in fines and jail terms for violators. On top of this, other penalties and charges have to be paid for non-compliant drone operators.
• To address this pain point, companies such as F-drones are starting small first and obtaining the necessary permits.
• Licenses such as the Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) certificatewill then need to be obtained to ensure compliance with the various regulations and prevent fines or operation stoppage.

Research Strategy