HiDef Aerial Surveying (HiDef) has this week confirmed it has completed a seven year licensing deal with the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) of Maine, USA, for exclusive rights to manufacture and sell HiDef’s unique Collision Avoidance Technology in the USA.
In September 2014 the partners received $1.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to further develop HiDef’s Collision Avoidance Technology, which has been designed to monitor the interaction of birds and bats around wind turbines.
The technology uses two extreme high-resolution cameras that are offset to create a three dimensional view of a wind turbine, the horizon and an area surrounding the turbine. In addition to daytime operations, the cameras use the latest near-infrared technology that will allow the detection of animal movements at night as well as during the day. This capability allows the Collision Avoidance Technology to monitor twenty-four hours a day and track and record the flight paths of birds and bats in the vicinity of turbines. Using complex software algorithms, the technology can then calculate the degree of randomness and make projections of avoidance behaviour.
In the last 18 months, HiDef has licensed their aerial survey technology and methodology to a number of third party providers on an exclusive territory basis, gaining HiDef the United Kingdom Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) Export Champion status for the last three years.
HiDef Director, David Baillie said “We are pleased to have completed the agreement with BRI, as it is the first overseas deal we’ve done for our Collision Avoidance Technology. Unlike the licenses for our aerial survey technology, BRI will be producing units for the US market. The logistics and import duties would have made a real difference to the market cost of the technology if supplied direct from the UK, so we needed to adopt a different and pragmatic approach.”
Managing Director, Mark Robinson added “We have been working hard to return the business to its core competency of developing first to market propositions. More and more of our income will be derived from licensing agreements, across a growing technology portfolio. HiDef expects to complete a further three similar agreements over the next six month period”.
Wing Goodale, Deputy Director of BRI added “HiDef and BRI have collaborated for three years delivering digital aerial surveys to the US Department of Energy. When we first heard about this new technology we couldn’t wait to get involved. We expect to deploy units first at terrestrial windfarms then target the offshore market as construction begins”.
