Siteco Moves into UAV Market with Sky-Scanner
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Siteco Moves into UAV Market with Sky-Scanner

Siteco Informatica has launched its new high-performance Sky-Scanner Lidar and image data collection system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In development since early 2015, the Sky-Scanner has already exceeded all performance expectations on the DJI-S1000 and DJI Matrice-600 airborne platforms.

The development project was spearheaded in collaboration with LTS, a high-tech survey Company headquartered in Treviso, shareholder of UNISKY (spinoff of the Venice University), and ASCO-DAITO., a Japanese leader of surveying, inspection and environmental engineering. Since early 2015, ASCO have been operating a Siteco Road-Scanner system throughout Japan for high accuracy 3D railway and roadway infrastructure capture.

Filling the gap

Based on specific price and performance requirements of ASCO, Siteco worked with LTS to develop the Sky-Scanner. This high-performance airborne data collection system fills the gap between the low-cost low-altitude photogrammetry approach of current UAV systems, and the more complex and expensive Lidar systems typically deployed on manned fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The system is delivered as a compact and light configuration (only 3.5 kg, including batteries) with up to 5 hours data collection time.

Vegetation

The Sky-Scanner, equipped with a Velodyne VLP16 scanner, 16-20MP high resolution camera for imagery and an Applanix AP15 inertial navigation system has succeeded in delivering verified accuracies of ±5 cm on regular surfaces (road, walls), and ±8cm on natural ground with vegetation, capable of generating high-quality orthophotos. The double return laser-scanner allows vegetation filtering.

Fitting solution

Augusto Burchi, Siteco’s CEO said there are many companies offering UAV solutions, but none have been able to deliver the data quality at a price required by our partners. The Sky-Scanner is the first such light, compact and cost effective system deployable on most commercially available UAVs, he stated.

The Sky-Scanner UAV system is developed as a highly flexible tool, bringing additional functionality to Siteco’s family of mobile mapping systems; the flexible and scalable RoadScanner-4 and RoadScanner-Compact which employ existing Lidar sensors from FARO, Leica Geosystems, Velodyne, Z+F and other 3D scanners.   

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