A Ministry of Defense-developed prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a 20 meter wing span, that is in its testing stages, has grabbed attention at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology exhibition as private-sector solutions by GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc (Geosat, 經緯航太科技) completed sorties in recent disaster response efforts.
Geosat showcased its six-rotored UAV, that provided images and geographical information about New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來), a mountainous area that sustained heavy damage from Typhoon Soudelor on Aug. 8.
With landslides cutting off the only road into the district, the government enlisted Geosat to provide high-definition photographs and geographical information using its drones to help in the search for people who were unaccounted for in the storm’s wake.
“We are positive about the government’s quick adoption of UAV,” Geosat strategy and project manager Stan Chen (陳信安) said at the company’s booth in the exhibition.
He said that public contract service accounts for about 20 percent to 30 percent of the company’s revenues, which average about NT$200 million (US$6.18 million) annually.
Geosat, the nation’s leading maker of unmanned aerial systems, have a vertically integrated supply chain that encompasses upstream segments including design and manufacturing of aircraft, avionics, positioning, remote-controlled and autonomous flight control systems and downstream application development, such as geographical information, cartography, and mapping and analysis software, Chen said during a presentation at the exhibition.
Last year, the company produced a map of an area struck by a series of gas pipeline explosions in Kaohsiung and helped authorities get a clearer picture of the extent of the damage done to structures and roads, which helped in the planning of access into the blast area.
The map was compiled from 257 images rated at 10cm orthoimagery resolution that were taken over seven UAV flights.
Geosat also displayed the larger Sky Arrow fixed-wing drone designed for mapping and surveying expansive areas. With a 3.8 meter wingspan, the gasoline-powered Sky Arrow 100 has an operational range of 800km or eight hours, and can carry 12kg of imaging equipment. Its composite airframe is able to withstand inclement weather and level 8 wind gusts.
Images taken by the Sky Arrow were analyzed by the company’s software to identify tree species and provided data for a recent study on tree populations inside Kenting National Park.
In addition to disaster response, the company said that its combination of aircraft, precision imaging, and geographical mapping and analysis software have a wide variety of applications, such as urban planning, detecting pollution and dumping, surveillance, cartography, comparative analysis on terrain changes following natural disasters and inspection of hazardous locations, such as power lines.
The company has had many government commissions in more than 30 countries in its 14-year history, Chen said.
Chen said that the company is upbeat about introducing its aircraft and software into China and a number of Southeast Asian nations in the second half of the year, during which it is also to begin delivering orders to Japanese clients.
Headquartered in Tainan, the company has capitalization of NT$160 million and bases its manufacturing in the Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung.
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