Aerial LiDAR

LiDAR - Light Detection And Ranging, refers to a system that utilizes lasers to measure distances from the sensor (which is mounted on a UAV) to a target. More advanced aerial LiDAR systems utilize many lasers spinning and shooting beams of infrared light at high frequencies, resulting in the capture hundreds of measured points per second. These lasers can pierce through tiny openings in forest canopy, enabling the capture of bare earth terrain models (not visible using image based photogrammetry). LiDAR can be used in the inspection and survey of many applications, such as power lines, towers, buildings, dams, forest canopy, shorelines, etc.

Because LiDAR can pierce through small openings in moderate to heavy vegetation, it has many advantages over simple photogrammetry. As a general rule of thumb; if you can see sunlight on the forest floor on a bright sunny day, LiDAR will map it!

Street-View / Vehicle-Mounted LiDAR is a practical choice for highway and road inspections, and for; city, state and local governments; public utilities; contractors; and survey & engineering firms who want to expand their data collection cost-effectively to meet the demands for a quickly evolving world, to mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure that old infrastructure meets current needs while documenting and modeling the development of new infrastructure.

Due to the ground-proximity of a vehicle-mounted LiDAR system, the collected data has ultra-high-accuracy, and when combined with 360-degree panoramic camera and a GNSS/IMU positioning package, the system produces dense point clouds and immersive imagery for surveying and mapping applications. Vehicle-mounted systems also reduce the complexity and cost of mobile mapping via fixed-wing, helicopter and even Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).

Aerial (RPAS / UAV) Magnetometer - Is an ultra lightweight (up to 100 Hz) Potassium (K) technology system which offers the highest sensitivity of any UAV Magnetometer on the market today. The DRONEmag Magnetometer in conjunction with LiDAR based flight planning allows for Ultra-high accurate mapping of mineral deposits, mapping even very subtle target responses. 

Some of the advantages of RPM Aerial Services Magnetometer used on our DJI M300:

· Operations in wet, rainy, and snowy conditions

· RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) positioning for cm level accuracy

· 2x the flight time of other commonly used RPAS systems

· The ability to collect and plan MAG surveys around LiDAR datasets 

· The highest sensitivity of any UAV Magnetometer on the market  

3D maps, models and orthophotos are derived from photogrammetry; and is a cost-effective way to collect and display data. The meta-information contained within these products allows for general measurements and volumetric calculations, and they also make great visualization tools for areas of interest.

Because photogrammetry is based on standard camera systems, they are limited in their ability to see below vegetation and thus can only provide effective bare earth models in areas with little or no vegetation; such as quarries or roads. Likewise, 3D models produced from photogrammetry are generated by using complex modeling software, and the "points" generated within these models are "DERIVED" form computer algorithms and not "MEASURED" points like that of LiDAR systems; therefore photogrammetry derived models are much less accurate than those produced by LiDAR systems.

There are many considerations when deciding if photogrammetry is the right choice for your project. In certain instances, where the information required from an aerial scan is moderate and accuracy isn’t of great importance, it may be cost effective to survey an area using photogrammetry. However, if it is essential that you see “bare earth” in your models and the area of interest is covered in vegetation, OR accuracy and detail is of great importance; then photogrammetry may not be the right choice.