UAV Photogrammetric Mapping System Showcased in Seoul

DroneMetrex recently demonstrated its UAV photogrammetric mapping system TopoDrone-100 to international visitors at the Smart Geospatial Expo, an international event featuring the newest and most advanced trends in the global spatial information industry. The Expo was held at COEX, Seoul, South Korea, from 25-27 August 2014, and was hosted by the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. DroneMetrex arranged a series of presentations and mapping demo flights to showcase the benefits and features of the TopoDrone-100, including its accuracy - 10mm horizontal and better than 25mm in height. The TopoDrone-100 performed two mapping demo flights; one over a University... (read more)

2014-08-29 10:56:24

UAV Operator's Certificate Issued to Land Surveys

Land Surveys, Australia, is now a fully certified Australian Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) operator. UAV Operator’s Certificate 1-URV83-01 was issued by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). This award of the UAV OC marks a significant milestone in the commercialisation of Land Surveys' UAV surveying activities and recognises that the systems and processes the company has established are in accordance with legislation and guidelines set down by CASA. UAV operators in Australia must be certified by CASA to engage in commercial activities, and Land Surveys is one of the first surveying companies to achieve this. UAV mapping complements the... (read more)

2013-02-08 10:19:02

HYPACK Enters UAV Data Collection Era

HYPACK, USA, has partnered with Infinite Jib, Velodyne and SBG to provide a mapping solution that represents a next evolution in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market: NEXUS 800 UAV. This solution, powered by HYPACK, represents a full end-to-end solution, seamlessly harmonising Lidar data with photogrammetry. The NEXUS 800 is a turnkey system that integrates hardware and software to provide an advanced and seamless solution for Lidar survey planning, data acquisition, post processing and analysis and product creation. Powered by the HYPACK-HYSWEEP mapping software, the operator can plan, acquire, and process the Lidar and Photogrammetry data onboard a high powered Windows... (read more)

2016-10-25 08:51:57

Turning UAV and Lidar into Something Beautiful

YellowScan International User Conference 2017

Mounting Lidar on an unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) is regarded by many as the next geospatial frontier, but gradually the barriers are being overcome. Scientists and Lidar- and UAV-adopters from surveying companies gathered at the second YellowScan User Conference in Montpellier, France, to discuss the future of this novel and promising geodata acquisition technology. The diverse backgrounds of the over 80 attendees reflect the potential of equipping UAVs with Lidar sensors, resulting in what may be called UAS-Lidar. The venue – Château de Flaugergues, built between 1696 and 1730 – added an extra dimension to the two-day conference, held on 29... (read more)

2017-07-26 11:13:46

Enabling UAV-based 3D Mapping

Pix4D

Pix4D has developed next-generation software that automatically combines raw images captured by lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to produce accurate measurements and visualisation of the environment. This enables timely, on-demand local 3D mapping. What if images taken by consumer-grade cameras could be combined to compute accurate 3D environments? This is the question that prompted Dr Christoph Strecha’s research 10 years ago. Back then, the first megapixel cameras were just starting to appear on the consumer market. Christoph’s research led to the development of techniques to produce 3D reconstructions in a fully automated way from a set of standard digital images.... (read more)

2012-06-29 04:58:34

Aeroscout Introduces New Lidar UAV Helicopter

Aeroscout, a long-term partner of Lidar manufacturer RIEGL, has launched the Scout B-330 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter. It is built with a high payload capacity of up to 50kg, a long flight endurance of at least three hours and the capability of flying at altitudes up to 3,000m above sea level in a typical mission scenario. This includes a fully autonomous take-off sequence, a mission flight at variable speed and a landing sequence. The Scout B-330 is specifically designed for Lidar-based powerline mapping missions. After one year of intense development, the Swiss-based company introduces the new Scout UAV system... (read more)

2017-05-30 08:56:13

Precise Positioning: The Future of UAV Mapping

The geospatial industry has seen exponential growth in the adoption of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or ‘drone’) solutions in recent years, particularly in surveying and mapping applications. Photogrammetry has recovered from a decline during the analogue era and benefited massively from the light digital sensors on versatile UAVs. Innovative technologies and more integrated, customer-friendly solutions have enabled photogrammetry to stay on the radar of industry professionals. Today, photogrammetry is increasingly capable of meeting demands for faster, more precise and efficient data collection. At the turn of the century, the survival of photogrammetry depended on its ability to adapt in the... (read more)

2018-03-07 02:51:41

Vertical Technologies Launches New VTOL UAV

Vertical Technologies has released its DeltaQuad series of autonomous VTOL UAVs. This hybrid vertical-take-off fixed-wing UAV can stream telemetry and video over the cellular network using VPN, and boasts a 1kg payload capacity, flight time of 2 hours 45 minutes and 150km range. The DeltaQuad is developed by members of the PX4 Pro autopilot development team and uses several innovative features that aims to make this UAV as easy to control as setting up a navigation system. It requires no pre-flight calibrations and the Pro model comes equipped with an on-board computer that almost completely replaces the operator, making the... (read more)

2017-09-05 09:30:53

Monitoring Coastal Erosion with UAV Lidar

Comprehensive Surveying of Coastal Topography

The French Mediterranean coast is a complex natural environment where geology, climate and the sea interact and continuously reshape the landscape. Coastal erosion and the availability of drinking water are two major coastal management issues that necessitate precise monitoring of the morphological changes to the shoreline. UAV Lidar is being used in this region to produce comprehensive topographic surveys with unprecedented productivity and level of detail, and several Lidar surveys are planned over the next two years. Read on for details of the context, technical setup and results of the very first survey which took place in January 2018. In... (read more)

2018-03-15 11:10:02

Regulations UAS /UAV in United States

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a framework of regulations that would allow routine use of certain small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) in today’s American aviation system, while maintaining flexibility to accommodate future technological innovations. The FAA proposal offers safety rules for small UASs (under 55 pounds, or 24.9kg) conducting non-recreational operations. The rule would limit flights to daylight and visual-line-of-sight operations. It also addresses height restrictions, operator certification, optional use of a visual observer, aircraft registration and marking, and operational limits. The proposed rule also includes extensive discussion of the possibility of an additional,... (read more)

2015-02-17 01:42:13