Business
A special maritime navigation mark emergency training was launched close to Tianjin Port on the morning of March 19. This is the first emergency training that has ever involved a civil unmanned aerial vehicle.
Through the remote test and control system, the Tianjin Navigation Mark Office under the Navigation Guarantee Center of the North China Sea found an abnormal buoy located in the main fairway of Tianjin Port that might bring interference to the navigation.
The office implemented the emergency proposal immediately and assigned an unmanned aerial vehicle to the site to confirm the situation, sending back real time videos and pictures and calling the Tianjin Port Navigation Mark Office about navigation resumption.
Based on a hybrid engine, the unmanned aerial vehicle can travel for 150 minutes non-stop in a diameter of 80 kilometers (50 miles) with a speed of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). The vehicle carries aerial photographing devices including a Canon 5D high-definition camera.
The vehicle arrived at the site after 20 minutes and sent back real time information of the navigation marks to the screen in the navigation office with the help of the aerial photographing devices.
According to the pictures and data, the buoy diverged 60 meters from the fairway. Soon after the confirmation, the patrolling vessel went to meet the buoy and adjusted it to the planned location.
The on-duty staff members monitored the entire process through the maritime working photographs and videos sent back by the unmanned aerial vehicle and confirmed the final effect of the emergency program.
Cheng Shengli, deputy director of the Information Office of the Tianjin Navigation Mark Department said, "Navigation marks are the coordinates for vessel travel. Before, they could only be adjusted manually, which requires a great amount of labor, material resources and money."
Cheng added that the advantages of the unmanned aerial vehicles are the ability to standby 24/7, to send back real time maritime data, and to save time and money.
Taking this emergency training as an example, it takes at least two hours for a patrolling vessel to travel back and forth for 10,000 yuan ($1,609). In contrast, it only takes an unmanned aerial vehicle eight minutes and less than 10 units of gas consumption for each kilometer. Replacing patrolling vessels with the unmanned aerial vehicles can save nearly two million yuan annually.
Ji Kehuai, deputy director of the operation and security office of the Tianjin Navigation Mark Department, said that the accuracy and promptness of the unmanned aerial vehicles are better than the vessels.
Ji added, "This emergency training gathers experience for unmanned aerial vehicle expansion into the navigation security area."
