Optech Announces Airborne Lidar Sensor for Wide-area Mapping

Optech has unveiled the latest addition to its line of airborne laser terrain mappers, the ALTM Galaxy. With the Galaxy, the Canadian company aims to raise the bar in sensor capability. Boasting a similar compact form factor to the award-winning ALTM Orion sensor platform for Tier-II UAV, heli-pod, gyro-stabilised or fixed-platform installations, the new ALTM Galaxy maintains the same survey-grade data precision and accuracy for the highest-quality datasets in the industry.

Central to Galaxy‘s performance capability is its innovative, high-productivity PulseTRAK technology. PulseTRAK’s features directly address key industry demands and limitations associated with current sensor offerings. PulseTRAK technology enables a truly continuous operating envelope that solves the challenge of coverage gaps and density variation in the multipulse transition/blind zones; up to 8 returns per emitted pulse without the need for voluminous waveform capture, which eliminates the storage and processing burden previously required for increased vertical density; a new robust scanner design that increases scan velocity and scan product for improved point distribution at higher sample rates and dramatically increases point density at lesser FOVs; a new swath-tracking mode that maintains a fixed swath width and consistent point distribution despite changes in altitude and/or terrain variation; and a realtime sensor protocol for in-air target detection confirmation, true coverage verification, and immediate LAS file deliverables.

Features

According to Michael Sitar, business manager of Optech’s Airborne Mapping Solutions, the secret to Galaxy’s exceptional capability is its integrated PulseTRAK technology. Optech has put a tremendous amount of effort into and productivity in a compact form factor, without sacrificing data quality or sensor reliability. While larger sampling rates are certainly desired, so are innovative features that maximise information content, increase collection efficiency, and reduce overhead costs. PulseTRAK enables all this and more, said Sitar.

Other key features in the ALTM Galaxy include a real-time atmospheric point inhibitor for exceptionally clean raw data; a wider 60° FOV for larger area coverage rates; and a ground-pounding 550kHz pulse repetition frequency that competes at the same altitudes as many larger multi-beam sensors for maximum collection efficiency and point density.

Optech is taking orders now for January deliveries of ALTM Galaxy – powered by PulseTRAK.