Autonomous Sensing using Satellites, Multicopters, Sensors and Actuators (MULTICO) - final report

This is a consortium level public final report of the project Autonomous Sensing using Satellites, Multicopters, Sensors and Actuators (MULTICO). The project duration was 1.4.2020-31.10.2022. It was funded by Business Finland New Space Economy program and by the participating companies and research organizations. Project consortium consisted of seven companies, one subcontractor, two research organizations and two advisory organizations. Participating companies were Nokia Oyj having Insta ILS Oy as a subcontractor, Saab Finland Oy, DA-Group, Huld Oy, Iceye Oy, Nsion Oy and Small Data Garden Oy. Participating research organizations were Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Finnish National Defence University and Finnish Air Force Academy participated in advisory role. Aalto University was coordinating the whole project entity.

MULTICO project included research, algorithm development and software implementation of the developed algorithms for satellite free (GNSS free / GNSS denied) navigation, pattern recognition, radio tomographic sensing and speaker identification. Temporal networks using multicopter-mounted flying base station were also developed. Everything was integrated so that it can operate as one situational awareness system. Alternatively, one or several subsystems can also operate independently. The trunk part of the integrated system was tested at winter experiments in December 2021 and finally the whole system at the final experiments in September 2022.