New product: Fiber-optic spools for hybrid Aerial and Underwater drones

Drawing on its experience in the field of optical wire links on aerial and underwater UAVs, SEDI-ATI is offering a single-use fiber-optic spool for amphibious UAVs: RBOB-HAUV. Ultra-compact and lightweight, it is mounted directly on the drone. It is designed for high-speed missions of up to 10 km, both in the air and deep water! It has been tested at 150 km/h in the air and 20 knots underwater.

It is particularly well suited to guiding an amphibious drone, and to transmitting huge data streams in real-time from on-board cameras and high-resolution sensors. Moreover, it’s an EMI-insensitive solution, so it’s immune to Hertzian jamming. As a result, manoeuvres such as diving, getting out of the water, circling or even around obstacles are not a problem. It will be possible to access steep or hard-to-reach places. The fiber-optic cable is never a ‘leash’ on the drone and ensures permanent, real-time communication between the craft and the control station.

The spool is single-use, so all you have to do is cut the fiber at the end of the mission. There’s no need to make the same journey back because the optical fiber is never a leash on the drone. What’s more, the fiber can be easily reconnected in the field using a simple connector kit.

The technical characteristics are the same as for the submarine reel: length from 500 meters to 10 kilometers, single-mode fiber 1310-1550 nm, ST connector, wide bandwidth for video and control transmissions…

SEDI-ATI Fibres Optiques, founded in 1972, designs, develops, and manufactures fiber-optic components and assemblies, such as multi-fiber assemblies, sealed feedthroughs, and fiber optic spools. More specifically, we design terrestrial, aerial and underwater fiber spools for wire-guided vehicles, with a capacity of up to 30 kilometers. SEDI-ATI specializes in the complex and extreme environments of the defense, aeronautics, space, nuclear, and geophysics markets.