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Automatic Helicopter Handling System from FHS Förder- und
Hebesysteme GmbH
FHS Förder- und Hebesysteme GmbH
is a leading supplier of
defense technology and naval technology. The company has a long
experience and competences in development and production of systems
and machines with electrical hydraulical drives and control equipment
with complex welded constructions.
Purpose of the Helicopter Handling System
Ship's helicopters on frigates or support ships are an integral
part of the weapon system consisting of the ship. Accordingly,
facilities must be provided to enable operation on board even in
sea state 6 conditions. A handling system is intended to transport
the helicopter from the landing deck to the hangar and vice versa.
This system must secure the ship's helicopter during its travel. The
transfer system must be capable of automatically rotating the
helicopter and of transporting it to the hangar.
The "classical" approach of doing this job by hand
is dangerous and time consuming. Thus, FHS Förder- und Hebesysteme
GmbH developed an automatic helicopter handling system. |
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The past: handling the landed helicopter
manually |
Positioning the manipulators based on HALCON's image
processing The system automatically locates the
wheels of the helicopter and moves the transverse travel unit to
them. Then, two manipulators - one for each wheel of the
helicopter - capture flanges at the wheels and rotate the
helicopter so that it can be transferred straight on into
the hangar.
The image processing unit |
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One key component of the whole system is the image
processing unit which localizes the helicopter's wheels and
flanges and assures that the manipulators can be precisely
positioned. The whole image processing is done with HALCON
for a robust object recognition which will find the wheels
even under worst conditions when the image is disturbed by bad
weather, such as fog, rain or darkness.
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The future: handling the helicopter
automatically |
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Developing the Helicopter Handling System is a joint project
of FHS Förder- und Hebesysteme GmbH, Ingenieurbüro
Nordmeier and MVTec Software GmbH where MVTec
developed the software of the image processing unit.
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Images kindly provided by
FHS Förder- und Hebesysteme GmbH.
All product names, trademarks and images of the
products/trademarks are copyright by their holders.
All rights reserved.
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