Maritime Operation of an Unmanned Rotorcraft with Tethered Ship Deck Landing System

Kurzfassung

In security-critical situations in the maritime area, ship-based deployment of remotely piloted aircraft systems could enable automated acquisition of aerial images and other sensor data. If intervention is required, response times of federal institutions could be shortened significantly without endangering personnel. This paper gives an overview on research undertaken at DLR in cooperation with the German Federal Police for Maritime Tasks. For safe ship deck landing of an unmanned rotorcraft a combination of precise navigation and tethered landing system has been developed and patented. First demonstrations on a real ship deck show the feasibility of the system.