A technology resulting from research, applied to yachting
Wattson Elements, the company that markets the Falco solution for marinas, comes from the world of research. A spin-off of INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, it relies on the knowledge of wireless sensor networks to offer marinas and their users boat management and tracking services. "There are already 76,000 networks in the world using this technology in agriculture or shipping. Falco uses it for boating," explains Elsa Nicol, co-founder of Wattson Elements.
A management tool for marinas
Thanks to the series of sensors set up, the marina has a dashboard showing it a lot of information in real time, such as the boats present, the places available, the electricity consumption. He can thus identify the places available for visitors and contact the owners to find out how long they are away. It can also offer people living on board or in a guest cabin a package adapted to their consumption. "It is a time-saving tool for the marina and avoids daily manual scoring," says Elsa Nicol.
Provide services to boaters
But Falco does not want to be just a tool for the marina. "It is also a way for the port, which distributes our boxes, to offer more services to its customers and to integrate it into its offer," says Elsa Nicol. The Falco box incorporates sensors that detect smoke, intrusion, shocks or abnormal boat movements. He then sends an alert to the boater and the harbour master. The level of service can be chosen by the port or the yachtsman according to needs and budgets. "It is also a tool to protect the marina from fires," the leader added.
Ongoing deployment
Created in January 2019, the company tested the Falco port management solution in Cap d'Agde and Lorient. Studies have been launched with boaters. The box will be presented to the general public at the Nautic 2019. Commercialization begins. "There are international prospects, in particular," concludes Elsa Nicol.
