This is what a day’s fishing inspection work with drones looks like
Silent, with up to 10 hours of autonomy and a radio-link coverage of 18 nautical miles. This is the M5D-Airfox, the solar-powered aircraft designed and developed by the technology company Marine Instruments, which has established itself as an efficient and silent tool, perfect for fisheries surveillance and/or ISR missions.
It is a solar-powered aircraft designed specifically for use from naval platforms and to operate from the sea, weighing only 4 kg and with a wingspan of 2.5 metres. The Airfox has a 360º HD camera with real-time transmission and can be launched manually or by shuttle and recovered by net. Thanks to its great versatility, it can effectively take on military operations of surveillance, tracking and detection of targets and objectives. Moreover, it is easy to operate, as a result of its high degree of automation. The UAV is equipped with its own software, which allows it to plan routes and/or change them in real time.
Therefore, the M5D-Airfox is the UAS in charge of fisheries surveillance throughout the national territory after being awarded a 2-year contract with the General Secretariat of Fisheries. From Marine Instruments we are very satisfied after completing more than a year and a half of activity offering this service with our solar drone M5D-Airfox in more than 6,000 km of the Spanish coast and 750 flight hours completed, operating both from the coastline and embarked on patrol boats. This service also includes the communications link, the ground station, the sending of photographs and video to the General Secretariat for Fisheries and the preparation of mission result reports. This innovative system complements the work of the planes and helicopters normally used for maritime inspection and surveillance tasks. A reality for smarter and more sustainable oceans.
This is what it’s like to work and deploy a day’s work in Fisheries Reconnaissance and Surveillance Missions (MRVP) in Spain with inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Marine Instruments drone team. The M5D-Airfox, an effective tool for fisheries surveillance work
