Large companies collaborate with Swiss startups

Airbus Helicopters and VRM Switzerland are co-developing the world’s first Virtual Reality training device (simulator) for the twin-engine H145 helicopter. This innovative new training tool will offer H145 operators an affordable, compact training solution with realistic flight behaviour and full-body immersion, as well as the 3D vision and high-resolution scenery of VR technology. The companies had been collaborating since 2021 to bring the EASA-qualified H125 VR training device to the market, enabling pilots to train realistically and execute complete proficiency checks on the simulator.

Containing the OEM data package, the H145 VR simulator, once qualified, will allow pilots to perform proficiency checks and receive training credits. It will be used to perform type ratings, including routine flight, emergencies, hoist operations and flight with night vision goggles, as well as instrument ratings.

Astrocast and Soracom
The partnership between Astrocast, a leading global nanosatellite IoT network operator, and Soracom, a global provider of advanced IoT connectivity, will lead to embedding the Astrocast Satellite IoT (SatIoT) solution into the Soracom platform. This collaboration enables Soracom to offer integrators and end customers blended IoT connectivity options that comprise satellite and cellular connectivity. Since 85% of the globe has zero cellular coverage, Astrocast’s SatIoT solution will provide a key component to Soracom’s 20,000 plus customers worldwide, with devices in areas where cellular coverage does not reach. Organisations can access Astrocast SatIoT by subscribing to the Soracom platform, taking advantage of the seamless, secure integration to a choice of cloud services. They will be able to make use of Soracom’s blended connectivity options or SatIoT alone.

Astrocast’s cost-effective global SatIoT will enable Soracom’s customers to derive more value from their IoT investments. An array of organisations and use cases – of all sizes and types – will benefit from SatIoT connectivity. This range includes Smart Agriculture, preventive maintenance and asset tracking.

Tech5 and Landqart AG
Manufacturer of secure substrates, Landqart AG and TECH5, an innovator in biometrics and digital identity management, announced a partnership agreement to provide a solution for certificate-based documents that are highly secure and durable, and biometrically verifiable against the holder. This innovation is based on Landqart’s Durasafe Certify® paper-polymer composite substrate and TECH5’s Digital ID technologies for issuance and offline verification of Digital ID. TECH5 has developed an economic and highly scalable platform for capturing a certificate holder’s personal data, including face and/or fingerprint biometrics, and encoding them in a printable form – called the T5-Cryptograph. The certificate holder’s identity can be easily verified using a smartphone: the verifying party only needs to capture the T5-Cryptograph using the smartphone’s camera and verify it biometrically against the presenter’s face or fingers, a process that, again using the phone’s camera, takes mere seconds. Since all the data to be verified resides in the T5-Cryptograph, verification can take place entirely offline; without the need to access and consult a database of personal data.

Sevensense and Rapyuta Robotics
The Swiss startups Sevensense and Rapyuta Robotics are collaborating to build the next generation of autonomous mobile robots based on visual SLAM and cloud robotics. When industrial or logistic processes call for automation, they require advanced localisation and navigation solutions as well as a streamlined orchestration of the vehicle fleet. Sevensense Robotics addresses the former need with its Alphasense product line powered by AI-based Visual SLAM algorithms. Rapyuta Robotics addresses the latter with the help of rapyuta.io - a cloud platform providing the software and tooling to develop and operate multi-robot solutions. The two companies are combining their technologies to offer best-in-class localisation, navigation, coordination and management for the next-generation of autonomous mobile robots.

(RAN)