European Agency Plans Drone for SOx Detection At Sea

The European Safety Monitoring Agency (EMSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are considering the deployment of remotely piloted aircraft for purposes of maritime surveillance – and, potentially, at-sea SOx emissions detection.

In a panel entitled “Remotely Piloted Airborne Systems for Maritime Surveillance,” held on October 28 and 29, EMSA gave an overview of two projects.

The first, RHAPSODY, a two-year test of the Portuguese company Tekever's AR5 drone, is set to begin soon. The AR5 is one of the largest systems that Tekever offers, with a wingspan of 14 feet, a 110 pound payload capacity and an endurance of eight to 12 hours.

The second program, called STEAM, will test the remote measurement of SOx emissions using sensors aboard an unmanned aerial platform.

If successful, STEAM could potentially ratchet up enforcement of MARPOL VI SOx limits in European ECAs by adding direct at-sea emissions detection to existing port call fuel inspections.

According to maritime insurer SKULD, at the first rollout of MARPOL VI in early 2015, the EU rules required member states to check bunkers and fuel logs aboard 10 percent of vessels calling at ECA ports. This is set to increase to 40 percent of vessels in 2016.

While EMSA did not announce the purpose of testing an airborne platform for SOx monitoring, the system could add an at-sea detection capability to in-port enforcement efforts. The coordination of MARPOL VI enforcement among E.U. member states is one of EMSA’s administrative roles.

The AR5 is not the first maritime UAV – nor is this the first test of SOx telemetry equipment – but the combination of the two may be the first to target maritime emissions monitoring with a UAV platform.

Maritime UAVs are already in operation in the U.S. for national security missions, with more and larger models under development.

The U.S. Coast Guard operates Predator drones with the U.S. Border Patrol for surveillance and interdiction, and is testing the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle system, an eight-pound payload ship-launched system with optical/infrared sensors and an endurance of 24 hours.

For military applications, the U.S. Navy's Air Systems Command and Northrop Grumman are developing the unmanned MQ-4C Triton, a variant of Northrop's highly successful Global Hawk UAV. The Triton has a claimed operating radius of 2,000 nm and a maximum payload of 6,000 pounds, including built-in radar and infrared telemetry instruments.