Nordic Unmanned revealed the ground-breaking Staaker BG-300 Railway Drone application, which alternates between an unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned ground vehicle whilst on railway tracks to perform rail maintenance and inspection.
Inspection and condition-based rail maintenance are key factors when planning for increasing the capacity and use of a train service. The work is dirty and potentially dangerous; therefore, maintenance is usually conducted at night or when there is no planned traffic, meaning maintenance occupies train service time and there is potentially a lack of consistent data that maps out the current state of the railway.
The Railway Drone can precision lubricate rail switches and inspect critical parts of the railway and its surroundings whilst driving on the track, collecting data with state-of-the-art cameras and sensors attached. When it encounters oncoming traffic, it will autonomously fly to the side of the track and let traffic pass. The Railway Drone can cover more than 200 km of rail in one mission using energy from hydrogen fuel cells.
“Our ambition is to make rail maintenance and inspection far more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. We’re already working with railways, and we see extremely exciting opportunities for drones in this market. Rail infrastructure will form a sizeable part of our 2025 growth strategy”
says Knut Roar Wiig, CEO of Nordic Unmanned.
The Staaker BG-300 Railway Drone is the latest addition to the Staaker family of products and is specifically developed in cooperation with a large European national railway infrastructure owner.
Nordic expects to start delivering full commercial services with The Staaker BG-300 Railway Drone in the first half of 2022 in Europe.
Source: Press Release