First UAV Flight from Unmanned Boat

The newest aircraft carrier does not have acres of flight deck. In fact, it has no deck at all. Rather than carrying a crew of thousands, it sails without a soul on board. Yet the aircraft that it operates can fly much longer and further than anything based on a fleet leviathan. That aircraft is Aerovel’s 20kg Flexrotor, which combines VTOL and a small footprint with a Hawaii-to-West Coast range. The carrier is a 4-metre skiff equipped to launch, retrieve and service the Flexrotor automatically. In what are believed to be the first-ever flight cycles of an unmanned aircraft based... (read more)

2013-10-25 10:17:21

Bathymetry from UAV Imagery and Machine Learning

Improving Results with Refraction Corrections

Accurate bathymetric mapping of shallow areas is essential for a plethora of offshore activities. Through Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multiview Stereo (MVS) techniques, images can provide a low-cost alternative compared to Lidar and sonar systems while also offering important visual information. This article presents a new framework for mapping the seabed in clear and calm shallow waters for small- and large-scale surveys using aerial imagery and machine learning to correct the geometric effects of refraction on the 3D point clouds and the imagery. SfM is a photogrammetric technique for estimating 3D structures from 2D image sequences. It involves acquiring... (read more)

2020-10-13 10:42:39

Riegl and Applanix Integrate on UAV

RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems and Applanix Corporation have announced that the Applanix AP50 GNSS-Inertial sensor system has been successfully integrated with RIEGL’s VQ-820-GU topo-bathymetric airborne laser scanner on board the Schiebel CAMCOPTER S-100 UAV. The RIEGL VQ-820-GU is specifically designed to survey sea beds, rivers or lakes and is well suited for combined ground and hydrographic airborne survey. The Applanix AP50 GNSS-Inertial system is a GNSS-Inertial sensor plus Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in a compact form factor. It features a high performance precision GNSS receiver and the Applanix IN-Fusion GNSS-Inertial integration technology running on a powerful, dedicated Inertial Engine (IE)... (read more)

2013-04-19 09:41:09

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

Hydrographic Airborne Scanner Integrated in UAV

Schiebel and RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems, Austria, have successfully integrated the Schiebel CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) together with the RIEGL VQ-820-GU Hydrographic Airborne Sensor. The integration marks the first time that this new airborne sensor was flown on board of a UAV. The S-100 helicopter UAS carried a special Schiebel-made composite pod containing the sensor, the IMU-GNSS unit, the data recording and transfer unit as well as a digital camera, during the flight tests in Grossmittel, Austria, which were carried out this month. This fully integrated system thus enables acquisition of high-accuracy hydrographic and topographic data, even in... (read more)

2012-12-20 01:20:54

UAV show China 2017 & China Unmanned Systems Expo 2017

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2017-03-13 05:47:35

UAV Overcomes Position Challenges near the North Pole

Engineers on board the Alfred Wegener Institute’s research icebreaker Polarstern have programmed an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV), allowing it to navigate despite the deviations produced by the Earth’s magnetic field near the North Pole. The researchers recently celebrated the multicopter's first successful autonomous flight and landing on an ice floe. According to Sascha Lehmenhecker, an engineer at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany), experienced that flying on high latitudes, autonomous navigation is a major challenge. Navigation systems normally use magnetic sensors. Near the poles, the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field are nearly... (read more)

2015-08-18 09:15:00

Geo-matching.com Adds Unmanned Aerial Systems

Geo-matching.com has announced the addition of a new category for Unmanned Aerial Systems. The types of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) that qualify for inclusion in this new category are all UAVs equipped with cameras, Lidar or other sensors capable of surveying Earth and/or sea surfaces, including relevant processing software. The following systems are currently listed: Aibot X6 (Aibotix), AR180 (Airobot), eBee (senseFly), EasyMap UAV (FotoMapy), md4-200 (microdrones), md4-1000 (microdrones), Phoenix AL-2 (Phoenix Aerial), Resolution (Oxford Blue Systems), Scout B1-100 UAV (Aeroscout), SIRIUS PRO (MAVinci), SmartOne C (SmartPlanes), Trimble UX5 (Trimble Navigation) and Versa X6 (Versadrones). View the UAS product overview.... (read more)

2013-10-08 09:51:46

Optech at MAPPS 2014 Summer Conference

Optech, Canada, is the official sponsor for the MAPPS Golf Tournament at the MAPPS 2014 Summer Conference, to be held from 27 to 31 July 2014 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA. This year’s Golf Tournament is taking place on Wednesday, 30 July at the scenic Coeur d’Alene Golf Course, known for its unusual 'floating' green on the 14th hole in the middle of the lake. During the conference, Optech president Max Elbaz will join a panel to discuss the many applications of bathymetric/topographic Lidar systems and data (from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday 29 July). Foremost among these... (read more)

2014-07-22 08:21:45

RIEGL BathyCopter Presented for Serial Availability

RIEGL traditionally uses the Intergeo platform to give an insight into and an overview of its comprehensive Lidar sensors and systems product range. At booth C3.059 in hall A3, on the first day of this year's event, RIEGL introduced current developments and unveiled latest products to the Intergeo audience. They included the BathyCopter for hydrographic surveys and the RIEGL VQ-1560i Dual Lidar Channel Airborne Laser Scanning System as well as the entry-level miniVUX-1UAV Lidar Sensor. RIEGL’s BathyCopter, the UAV-based surveying system for hydrographic applications has been presented as a proof of concept at last year’s INTERGEO and after a year... (read more)

2016-10-12 10:25:45