Research is paramount for SATEL as a leading off-highway mission-critical connectivity technology provider, as it fuels the evolution of communication networks, ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation. Autonomous Low-Emission Swarm of Infra Construction Machinery project (SWARM) is dedicated to researching and developing remote and autonomic control systems for heavy construction equipment.
In SWARM project, we research vehicle swarm connectivity for increasing levels of autonomy with University of Oulu, which leads the research project, and other industry partners. Solving the actual use case and field requirements for connectivity enables savings in productivity and sustainability.
A smart combination of technologies brings savings and safety.
Autonomous infra construction machinery supports the goals of sustainable development by saving fuel and improving working conditions on the construction site. Mission-critical connectivity solution ensures that autonomous and unmanned machine groups can operate without interruption and that essential information, such as safety signals, is continuously transmitted. Interruption of signals can endanger work safety and productivity.
”In an autonomous machine fleet, the machines have different roles. Everything must work smoothly so that the machines do not collide with each other, and unnecessary waiting times are avoided, just to mention a few examples. In the SWARM project, SATEL’s interest is to seamlessly connect the different roles of the machinery fleet by means of transmission technology”, says SATEL’s Head of Technology Heikki Keränen.
Smart combination of Wi-Fi, Mesh networking and 5G is the essence of the project for SATEL since a single technology cannot solve all the challenges of the swarm. SATEL’s independent private radio technology brings clear added value to the technologies studied, as it works flawlessly even in locations where public network is not available.
“Through ongoing research, SATEL can develop more reliable, and secure high performance connectivity solutions, meeting the ever-growing demands of the off-highway vehicle industry and application”, Heikki Keränen states.
Participating in publicly funded research projects gives SATEL an excellent possibility to conduct the research in a real-life environment and with application specific conditions. The co-innovation projects such as SWARM, with partners from industry and academia, have numerous benefits, offering a powerful synergy by combining theoretical expertise with practical experience, resulting in comprehensive and impactful outcomes.
SWARM project has received NextgenerationEU funding.