Norway's Maritime Robotics announced that a Penguin B drone owned by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment concluded a 200 kilometer flight in June, passing through several different types of controlled civil airspace.
 
The flight demonstrated a new wireless data link technology using phased array antennas from Radionor Communications, as well as a lightweight transponder on the aircraft, all of which was integrated by Maritime Robotics.
 
The Penguin B took off from Frøya, on Norway's midwestern coast, and flew north to Rørvik, where its landing was assisted by a crew from the Norwegian University of Technology and Science. The flight took two hours and 12 minutes. 
 
"This mission served to prove that it is possible to operate an unmanned aircraft not only on round trips from one base, but for operations involving transit between multiple bases," Maritime Robotics said in announcing the flight on Oct. 23. "This is a game changer for designing flexible UAV missions and services."
 
For instance, search and rescue operations might stray from the area where a drone took, so having the capability to land it elsewhere could keep it in the air longer, the company says.
 
"In this operation, all control was made from Rørvik or Frøya , but in principle the flight could have been controlled from specialized crew in a control room anywhere with good network access," the company said.
 
The flight was a part of the research program Hybrid Operations in the Maritime Environment (HOME), a cooperation between Radionor, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Maritime Robotics. 
 
Partly funded by the Norwegian Reseach Council, the experiment included contributions from the Norwegian Defence Research Establishement, Norkring and Avinor, which provides air space management for Norway.

Below: The Penguin B drone upon landing in Rørvik. Photo: Maritime Robotics