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3D Aerospace (the "Company") is a European deep-technology start-up located in France. Through its business solution DeVines, 3D Aerospace addresses the common problems found across the European and worldwide vineyards. The solution consists of automatically assessing the health and efficiency of a vineyard by combining the assets of European satellites Galileo for precise geolocation and artificial intelligence for precise monitoring.

3D Aerospace is developing a new connected GPS platform (eHermes) which combines high accuracy positioning and embedded vision capabilities. The latter are used to map the vineyard in high definition in order to autonomously detect the most common vineyard anomalies such as dead plants, water leakage, plant diseases. The geotagged data collected by the eHermes receivers are sent to a cloud-based database for image processing. Thanks to machine learning algorithms, an automatic assessment of vineyard key performance indicators is derived. Finally, a smartphone application is provided to grape growers to visualise the digital vineyard map. The patented technology will assist European and international producers in their winemaking management at different scales: workforce management, vines supervision and vineyard management.

Europe is the world’s leader market in viticulture with 2.4 million vineyard owners, exploiting 3.2 million hectares of vineyards. 3D Aerospace will launch its DeVines service in Q4 2021, targeting 60,000 French vineyard owners through a monthly subscription. The Company is expected to reach breakeven in 2024 and is projected to grow its market share in France up to 5% resulting in € 23.3 million revenues by 2025. An international expansion is planned in 2026 starting with Luxembourg and Germany which will double the target market to 120,000 vineyard owners.

 

Visit the website of DeVines here

3D Aerospace was founded in June 2018 by Benjamin Kawak with the ambition to leverage all the new opportunities offered by Galileo, the European space navigation program and its specificities into the industrial applications.

Since 3D Aerospace’s foundation, its business strategy has progressed through several iterations, however its core value proposition has remained constant:

 

"Providing precise geolocation services in connected maps"

 

3D Aerospace has ambitions to develop and provide High Definition (“HD”) maps to be used in various fields including autonomous applications such as tractors, cars and drones. The technology can be leveraged in different sectors and functions. The first focus of the Company is the precision viticulture in order to advance the technology and start generating revenues that will support further Company growth. 3D Aerospace’s current focus is on the development of the technology to launch the DeVines services.

 

 

 

In addition, the core team constists of 5 talented engineers covering all the necessary engineering fields: machine learning algorithm development, GPS algorithms definition, software development, mechanical conception and precise electronics design. Our team is ambitious, dynamic and international, we are driven to make 3D Aerospace a successful company.

The main cornerstone of 3D Aerospace lies in its Global Navigation Satellite System (“GNSS”) platform eHermes which will ensure the quality and the quantity of on-ground streams of data.

 

eHermes receiver

 

Block Diagram of the eHermes receiver

 

A top-level block diagram of eHermes platform is provided in the above figure. The eHermes platform consists of three main subsystems:

1. A GNSS block which is made of:

- A multi-frequency (E1 / E5 / E6) GNSS professional antenna.

- A RF front-end that converts down the RF samples from L-band to baseband frequency as well as digitizes the analogue RF samples to digitalized signals.

- A system-on-chip ("SoC") that enables a field programmable gate array ("FPGA") to perform the computationally intensive correlation operations (early-prompt-late) whereas the microprocessor processes the correlator outputs in order to produce the code pseudorange and carrier phase measurements, demodulate the navigation message and derive position/velocity/time (PVT) solutions. 

2. An array of seven cameras for 360° vision for plant health assessment.

3. An Inertial Measurement Unit providing heading direction and enhancing the positioning.

 

Besides benefiting from the development in mobile telecommunication electronics, development in GNSS Software Defined Receiver (“SDR”) has greatly taken advantage of the proliferation of collaboration, open-source code websites such as GitHub or GNSS-SDR. An increasing community of software developers share freely and co-develop embedded software to maximize the usage of SDR.

From an operational concept, the eHermes is fully autonomous from an electrical point of view, the receiver has its own batteries. From a mechanical perspective, it has a suction cup locking mechanism. Hence, eHermes can be deployed on any type of four-wheel vehicle such as tractors or quads. To enhance eHermes’ field of view and the quality of the received GNSS signals, eHermes will be deployed directly on the vehicle’s roof as illustrated below.

 

 

Hence, as soon as the tractor will be in operation (motion detected by the accelerometers of the eHermes platform), the eHermes receiver will start recording its absolute position (thanks to its GNSS subsystem) and its local environment (thanks to its vision subsystem). The taken pictures will be tagged with the determined GNSS position and will be sent to the eMAPs database. In this database, powerful algorithms will be used to determine the HD map of the vineyard and its observed anomalies. The derived map will be available through a web-based application available on smartphones, tablets and computers.

 

The smartphone application DeVines has several purposes: 

 

1. from the employees‘ side:

- To ease the communication among the employees or between the employees and the employer. 

- To notify the employer of an emergency in case of an accident.

- To declare and tag observed anomalies in the vineyard.

 

2. from the employer’s side:

- To communicate in real-time to the employees who are working in the vineyard.

- To assign and manage the work tasks per employee.

- To verify the quality and the progression of the assigned work.

 

Basic principles of the smartphone application

3D Aerospace has identified the precision viticulture as its first market. As a niche market, it provides an opportunity to optimize the prototype, the algorithms and the end-to-end system. Services in the precision viticulture market are intended to be offered by 3D Aerospace at the end of year 2021, through 3D Aerospace’s brand DeVines. 

The value proposition of DeVines is:

 

"To increase the productivity and the quality of the vineyard while reducing their environmental impact".

 

The objectives of DeVines are as follows:

1. To continuously monitor the health of the vineyard in providing weekly digital information to the winemakers. The objective is to be able to detect with an accuracy of at least 80% missing or dead plants as well as potential unhealthy plants. A machine-learning algorithm will be developed to detect plant and vineyard anomalies and report them in a web-based platform. The timely information with precise location, prevents further spread of the disease. In the long run, it might be possible to find clues for detecting the outbreaks of diseases even earlier due to the platform ‘s ability to track certain factors over longer time periods. 

 

2. To contain viruses and to decrease by 20% the use of pesticides in the vineyard without increasing the manual workload of the operators nor compromising on the quality of the grapes. The objective is to accurately map the vineyard in order to know precisely the geolocation of the vine plants as well as their shapes. Due to the collected data, future autonomous machines could clear the land without the risk of damaging the plants. This HD map coupled with the machine-learning algorithms aims at reducing significantly the usage of pesticides and becoming a sustainable and long-term replacement solution. This aligns to 3D Aerospace’s goal of contributing to a more sustainable environment and better use of natural resources such as land.

 

3. To increase the efficient management of the workforce by 25% in the vineyard by introducing digital tools, while better protecting the operators’ safety. The objective is to provide an interactive web-based platform where the vineyard’s workforce could be connected and efficiently managed. Interactions between the platform and the operators will be achieved through the development of a smartphone application. The latter will provide GNSS guidance information to seasonal workers and contribute to the observation of plant disease using geotagged images.

 

4. To develop affordable digital solutions which could be deployed in the majority of European vineyards with the objective of targeting 80% of the total addressable European market. Only 20% of European winemakers are currently using tools or products related to precision viticulture. The objective of DeVines is to develop a cutting-edge solution which could be afforded by at least 80% of European winemakers.

 

Following a successful commercial prospect, the first step of DeVines deployment consists of creating a new vineyard account facilitated by the smartphone application. Once, an eHermes receiver is received by the customer, the eHermes receiver is configured simply through a tutorial available on the smartphone application. Once configured, the eHemres can be deployed on one of the farm’s tractor in order to start mapping in high definition the vineyard. The geotagged data captured by the eHermes receiver are transmitted to the database through a WiFI connexion at the end of the working day. In the database, the images are post-processed overnight in order to derive the KPI identified with the customers. The outputs of the post processing are then available and are displayed to the customer through the smartphone application. This results in material savings in effort and costs.

The unique selling points of DeVines can be summarized in four axes:

 

Ease of Use

Easy installation and removal of the eHermes receiver on motorized vehicles.

Easy transfer of data through a WiFi connection.

Easy interpretation of the results through a simple smartphone application.

 

More Economical

The management of the vineyard is adjusted based on the anomaly detection. Studies show an average gain of 0.5 FTE / 5ha / year.

By being deployed directly on the farmer’s vehicle without any mechanical or electrical alterations, DeVines‘ mapping platform can be retrofitted on all existing tractors or quads. 

 

More Ecological

Early detection of plant diseases and of water leakage reduces the risk of over usage of pesticides and minimizes the waste of water.

 

More Adaptable

DeVines results can be displayed on a multitude of formats (smartphone, tablet, screen) to ensure that farmers can follow the growth of their vineyard continuously everywhere at any time.

 

 

Competitive Landscape

DeVines is based on collecting on-ground data combined with earth-observation data to provide top-class services. The purpose of 3D Aerospace, unlike most of the competitors, is not to provide standalone solution but a full array of services. In addition, combining the collected data from all the different users facilitates training the 3D Aerospace machine learning algorithms in view of increasing the probability of anomalies' detections.

DeVines is compared to main competitors (smartphone applications, In-situ IoT sensors, autonomous robots and drones) against five criteria:

 

1. Price to use the solution in the vineyard.

2. Up-to-date maps, this criterion measures the ability of the solution to maintain the digital vineyard map up-to-date in order to detect new anomalies.

3. Workforce management assesses the possibility given by the solution to manage efficiently the permanent and seasonal workforce (manpower and physical assets) employed in the vineyard.

4. Easiness to use describes the easiness of the solution to be deployed with untrained customers or users. In other words, this criterion assesses how quickly the customer can become fully operational with the solution.

5. Anomaly detection corresponds to the capacity of the solution to detect autonomously the anomalies in the vineyard. From the initial ground survey, the initial list of anomalies includes: missing plant, broken wire plant support, broken plant support, water leakage and plant diseases which can be detected on leaves patterns. This list of anomalies is driven by the customers and developed for the customers.

 

A competitive analysis is illustrated below. The main drawback of autonomous robots is their current price and the important logistics which is required in the deployment of the solution. Moreover, neither the robots nor the drones could manage the workforce in the vineyard.

There are several smartphone applications which offer vineyard management platform at a very competitive price. However, the current mapping capacity of a smartphone is very limited similarly to their anomaly detection capacity. DeVines represents the best solution considering the five criteria combined in one.

 

 

Scalable Business Model

The initial focus of 3D Aerospace is the service DeVines but 3D Aerospace’s digital business model is scalable to other agricultural markets, and the technology can be leveraged for different purposes with the potential to diversify revenue streams. The overall business strategy proposed for DeVines is based on a Business to business ("B2B").

 

 

To make the services affordable, DeVines will be offered for grape growers and winemakers with a 12-month fixed contract using a monthly subscription model.

 

Revenue Streams

The DeVines business solution is presented in three offers:

 

 

1.  The Discovery provides customers a taste of DeVines by accessing the free app. In the app customers can manually make notes of identified anomalies in their vineyard.

2.  The Millésime has been designed to leverage the synergies created between the connected eHermes receiver, the cloud database eMAPs and the smartphone application DeVines Pro. The Millésime provides additional services such as the detection of vineyard anomalies as well as online training on how to best use the different products.

3.  The Magnum offers the widest spectrum of service designed for large vineyard. In comparison with the Millésime, two additional eHermes receivers are included in the Magnum which will guarantee quicker update of the vineyard map.

 

The forecasted number of customers over five years per service and combined are Illustrated in the graph below.

 

 

Precision viticulture represents the perfect niche market for 3D Aerospace to validate the DeVines business suite. The worldwide production of wine is not homogeneous across the globe. Although, the production varies year on year due to the climate change effects, the European market has always been the first worldwide producer, exporter and consumer. In Europe, 70% of the production belongs to three countries: France, Italy and Spain. In 2015, 3.2 million hectares of vineyards were cultivated in Europe by 2.4 million winemakers (Eurostat, 2019). 

 

According to the analysis performed in The Precision Viticulture Market, the market is projected to reach USD1,546.6 Million by 2022 from USD1,014.0 Million in 2017, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.81% during the forecast period. The availability of freeware geographical systems (GIS packages) with sophisticated functionality is expected to fuel the demand for precision viticulture technologies in the near future.

 

[1] Precision Viticulture Market by Technology (Guidance Systems, Remote Sensing, VRT), Application (Yield Monitoring, Field Mapping, Weather Tracking & Forecasting), Product/Service (Hardware, Software, Services) - Global Forecast to 2022

 

 

More than 40% of the precision viticulture market is concentrated in Europe and especially in southern Europe (France, Italy and Spain), making the European market the world leading market place in precision viticulture.

 

Analysis and Segmentation

The main target customer is a vineyard owner of minimum 5ha, considering that the commercial objective of DeVines is to obtain revenue of at least €5,000 per year per customer. Apart from that, some premium vineyards may be smaller in size but still be interested in the product due to the added value of the service in terms of time and accuracy.

DeVines, due to the geolocation of the anomalies (mainly detection of dead plants and missing plants) and to the estimation of plant yield, will allow the vineyard owner to save at least 0.5 FTE during the vineyard season from March to September in the north hemisphere countries. In addition to cost saving, DeVines will provide precision and accuracy in optimizing resources and planning.

The French market has been identified as the most attractive entry market for DeVines due to it being home to a big number of vineyards owners, as illustrated below, and 3D Aerospace base and multiple already built partnerships.

 

 

A detailed market customer segmentation has been performed. DeVines has a target of 60,000 French vineyard owners, this excludes the customers with vineyards that are less than 5ha per vineyard. DeVines has already secured a number of alpha customers for 2021. 

 

 

Following the French market, DeVines will expand in Europe to Benelux and Germany. Luxembourg is the second market with biggest area per vineyard owner and Germany market is the fifth but bigger in overall hectares as illustrated above. 

DeVines services will be offered to vineyard owners on a monthly subscription basis with an open-ended contract including a 12-month minimum initial period. Three offers will be proposed to customers: Discovery (free), Millésime and Magnum.

DeVines has already secured seven Alpha customers who will be able to deploy the technology first hand in their vineyards without any costs associated with it in 2021. Onwards, DeVines will target 60,000 vineyards in France. In 2026, DeVines intends to enter the Benelux and German markets. This will double the target market to 120,000 vineyard owners. Thereafter, DeVines intends to expand further in Europe and worldwide. A detailed market share forecast is presented below, whereby 2021 illustrates zero revenues as the Alpha customers will not be charged in the first year.

 

Allocation of Capital

The funding will be used to support the commercialisation of DeVines. Thanks to private equity and the financial subventions received from the European Commission and the French government, the technology required for DeVines is nearly fully operational. The mapping receiver eHermes has undergone successfully its first operational tests. Additional system tests involving the smartphone application and the cloud-based database are planned at the beginning of 2021 directly in the customers’ vineyards. The 2021 tests consist of the final end to end test from the deployment of the pre-commercialised version of the mapping platform to validating the final adjustment of the application with the customers. 3D Aerospace expects to introduce the DeVines service to the French market in Q4 2021.

 

 

Technology Readiness:

Currently, the majority of the team of 3D Aerospace is entirely focused on developing the eHermes prototypes. Two innovation contracts were obtained in 2019 to perform the studies and develop the minimum viable product (MVP) of the eHermes receiver. Since 2018, several initial studies were completed such as:

 

- A mechanical feasibility study performed to design an initial concept of the receiver.

- A GNSS feasibility study performed in 2019 to acquire, to track and to demodulate Galileo signals (E5, E6 and E1) as well as GPS signals (L1 and L5). The algorithms were developed on Matlab and validated using real GNSS signals.

- An embedded software feasibility study in 2020 performed to implement the first GNSS algorithms into off the shelf FPGA.

 

In 2020, a first MVP has been designed and developed. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the eHermes receiver, the most difficult product of DeVines ecosystem, is currently at 4 and is expected to reach level 7 (system prototype demonstration in operational environment) by Q1 2021 at the completion of the operational test. 

 

Public Research centres:

3D Aerospace has close relationships with three main French research centres. First of all, 3D Aerospace is hosted in the incubator of IMT Albi. 3D Aerospace works in close relationship with the material research centre as well as industrial engineering centre to develop 3D Aerospace eHermes receiver. Related to the development of the position algorithm, 3D Aerospace works in close collaboration with the French engineering school ENAC as well as the research institute IFSTTAR. 

 

Alpha Customers:

3D Aerospace has secured several alpha customers:

- Les vignobles Gayrel located near Albi which owns more than 250ha of vineyard. Les vignobles Gayrel agrees to deploy the first version of the receivers in their vineyards.

- Cooperative Plaimont which is one of the biggest French winery cooperative with more than 800 vineyard owners managing over 5,300ha of vineyard.

- Castel Peyrabon which is one of the oldest vineyards in Bordeaux region.

 

Grants and Awards:

- Grant - BPI: French Tech

- Grant - European Space Agency – Business Incubation Center

- Grant - European Commission through the GSA Fundamental elements

- Award: Galileo Master France 2019

- Award: GSA competition: Top 5 GNSS startup InfoShare 2020

- Award: Geomatics on the move 2020 (third)

 

Investing in 3D Aerospace offers an ideal investment opportunity for three main reasons:

 

1. Firstly, vineyards have to become more ecological and DeVines will be an active player in this by minimizing usage of pesticides and herbicides.

2. Secondly, the technology required for DeVines is nearly fully operational and demand by potential customers is already immense with a number of acquired alpha customers, while at the same time the company valuation is still very attractive for investors to step in.

3. Last but not least, 3D Aerospace’s digital business model is scalable to other agricultural markets, and the technology can be leveraged for different purposes with the potential to diversify revenue streams.  

 

Investments made through the crowd funding platform up to € 250,000 will be matched by BPI, the French public bank for investment in collaboration with the French Space Agency. This will ensure sufficient funding for commercialising DeVines and supporting all operations through 2021.