Chaos kept in check

'Eye in the Sky' is the name of an unmanned surveillance helicopter under development in Aalborg, Denmark. The helicopter would be beneficial in the clearing of mines and rescue work following disasters.

Landmines in former war zones are a major problem in many developing countries. The UN estimates that it will take 1,100 years to clear all of the mines around the world with the current mine clearance technology.

To make mine clearance as effective as possible, it is important to have detailed information about the area to be cleared. This information can be difficult to obtain, as it is often a challenge to obtain a visual overview of the entire area. This may be due to major differences in height or dense vegetation.

Watch a film about Access2Innovation

Eye in the Sky
Access2Innovation was established in 2007 and is working to create the product 'Eye in the Sky', which is a system to gain an overview of mined areas from the air. The core of the product is an unmanned mini-helicopter fitted with a camera.

The helicopter can fly over a mined area and send images to a computer which generates an overall map of the area based on these images. The system will also be able to send live video footage to the operator in the event of floods or major fires.

A growing market
Access2Innovation hopes to have the product on the market within two years. The first and primary market is mine clearance. The market for private mine clearance companies has grown every year since 1995 and is a $475 million business worldwide today.

Access2Innovation cannot yet specify the cost of producing 'Eye in the Sky', but assesses that if the product can be sold for at around EUR 27,000, the potential for rapid distribution in the market is good. ’Eye in the Sky’ is being developed in close collaboration with DanChurchAid, which will probably also be its first customer.

Access2Innovation and the company’s partners reckon on being able to make a prototype during the summer of 2009. The prototype will then be tested in a mine clearance situation in Africa, for example where it will have to function in difficult conditions with a lot of dust, high air humidity and oppressive heat.

Five companies are involved in the 'Eye in the Sky' collaboration. They represent the various competences necessary: Building and maintenance of planes and helicopters, software development, e-commerce solutions and production of satellites for wireless communication.