Schiebel, together with partners Nordic Unmanned and the NORCE Research Institute AS, is operating the CAMCOPTER S-100 to monitor ship emissions for French maritime authorities. The service providers for this French deployment cover ship sulphur emission monitoring in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in the strait of Pas-de-Calais. The operation started on 23 September and will run for three months.
The Unmanned Air System (UAS) CAMCOPTER S-100 specifically measures the ships’ sulphur emissions to check compliance with the EU rules governing the sulphur content of marine fuels. Measurements are transmitted in real time through the EMSA RPAS Data Centre to the relevant authorities. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) service is offered by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). As part of this contract, Schiebel provides various maritime surveillance services for EMSA to several EU member states and EU bodies. Currently, the CAMCOPTER S-100 is also operational in Denmark for emission monitoring purposes, as well as in Finland supporting coast guard functions. In addition to the EMSA contract, the S-100 is being operated by the French Navy to conduct maritime surveillance.
The S-100 has a flight endurance of more than six hours and operates day and night. It is equipped with an Explicit mini sniffer sensor system, an Electro-Optical / Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera gimbal and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver.