March brought a new boost to the drone industry. Two different events were organized for the Carbon neutral drone service solutions in Southern Finland project, which explored the opportunities presented by drones.
For information to all interested: due to corona virus, the joint workshop of Forum Virium and VTT’s RAAS on 20 April will take place as a remote workshop and the Posintra workshop in May is expected to be postponed to June. The exact time will be announced later!
Drones and a carbon neutral society
On 5 March, we explored in Maria 01 in Helsinki how drones could contribute to building a carbon neutral society.
The main message was that if Finland aims to be carbon neutral by 2035 and wants to reduce traffic emissions by 50% by 2030, new sustainable solutions for transport will be needed. These include, for example, emission-free drone service solutions to replace vehicles that are powered by combustion engines.
– Drones play an important role in reducing traffic emissions, says Outi Ampuja from Traficom. The number of drones carrying parcels in particular is expected to grow significantly.
– Drones have the benefit, for example, of not being subject to congestion and their emissions are lower when using renewable fuels, says Stara’s development manager Paavo Lehmonen.
Stara already uses drones for modelling, tracking, inventory and monitoring of sites, parks, public works and real estate.
Also Jarno Ilme from the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency and climate expert for the City of Helsinki, Mira Jarkko, spoke at the event, outlining Helsinki’s ambitious objectives to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% and offset the remaining 20% by 2035. A total of 30 people attended the event.
A spokesman for Ikea said the company is actively looking for various emission-free alternatives to transportation. Already used is, for example, an electric truck doing home deliveries in Tampere. Drones are dreamed of, for example, as a low-carbon or even zero-emission mode of small parcel deliveries.
The Helsinki event was organized by Forum Virium Helsinki.
In the picture Heidi Heinonen, Forum Virium’s Project Manager at a workshop in Maria 01 on 5.3.2020.
Drones and 5G network work hand in hand
Mobile networks (2G/3G/4G) are designed for terrestrial use. With 5G technology, the drones are expanding their range and operating more smoothly.
Ideas were brainstormed at Mussalo harbor in Kotka on 3 March for usage cases for the port’s upcoming 5G test network The ideas relate to the physical business processes of the port, port operators or storage operators. The aim is to launch the test network at the port of Mussalo in early 2021.
The event welcomed 30 wise participants, mostly technology companies and representatives of the Traficom 5G Momentum project, customs and ports.
The workshop resulted in over 50 usage case ideas that can be tested on the port’s 5G test network. The ideas were related to quality measurement, positioning, analytics, weather conditions, air quality, area control, security, and monitoring and control of passenger and freight traffic in the 5G communications network.
The event was organized by Xamk’s Carbon neutral drone service solutions in Southern Finland project
together with the 5G FINLOG project.
Read more about the 5G FINLOG project (in finnish).
More information about the Carbon neutral drone service solutions in Southern Finland project.
VARAA AIKA