ID-GF Project: Innovation Serving Underwater Surveillance
Oxxius takes part in the ID-GF project, a groundbreaking program focusing on creating “packs” of underwater drones de dedicated to communications and LiDAR.
The ID-GF project (Imageur Distribué Grands Fonds: Deep-Sea Distributed Imager) draws on the expertise of three specialized SMEs—FMC Composites, Oxxius, and HEXA-H—and two renowned maritime-science research institutions, ENSTA Bretagne and Ifremer.
The goal is to develop and integrate technological building blocks in order to deploy a system made up of a large distributed array formed by a swarm of hybrid floats, all networked and geolocated from the surface. Oxxius will supply several of these building blocks, including the LiDAR subsystem, underwater optical communications, and the integration of these subsystems inside the floats.
The potential applications are numerous: physical (turbulence, internal waves) and biological (marine-mammal localization, fisheries resources) oceanographic studies—as well as the coupling between them—monitoring of infrastructure and maritime traffic, tracking chemical pollution, and defense uses such as creating ultra-low-frequency antenna arrays.
ID-GF is the third project involving underwater drone communication in which Oxxius has taken part. The first two were the DGA/RAPID projects LAMPARO and then CHIMAERA. In those programs, Oxxius was responsible for the complete transmit-and-receive modules, including lasers, detectors, and boards. A specialist in lasers—especially diode lasers—and laser-based subsystems, Oxxius is contributing its expertise here to implement and integrate the application-specific laser within the underwater float.
Project funded by: France 2030 and BPI France
