What in the World is LiDAR Survey Technology?

Back in the day, people thought the eye produced invisible rays that struck objects and made them visible to the viewer. While that’s not true, it’s not a bad idea for seeing the world around us. In fact, it’s the very idea behind LiDAR survey, a digital form of imaging.

LiDAR stands for “light imaging detection and ranging.” The similarity to sonar and radar isn’t a coincidence. They all use the same echolocation principle.

Using Echoes, Waves, and Lasers to See

Just like bats use sound waves to know where they’re going, and radio waves are great for finding solid objects over long distances, LiDAR falls right in the middle. The LiDAR unit sits in the center or is carried by a drone and uses lasers to send pulses of light to its surroundings. It measures the time it takes each pulse to return and the pulse hits are recorded as a point on a 3D map or model. While some LiDAR units function differently than others, many will sweep in a circle like a radar dish while the laser moves up and down.

The World of LiDAR Technology

With today’s technology, a LiDAR unit can send and receive millions of pulses every second. The result is an incredibly detailed image of the environment and the objects within it.

LiDAR is especially suited for navigating our everyday world. With Drone LiDAR service, LiDAR is attached to drones for a survey of the land and its surroundings. LiDAR survey can produce accurate images of the ground and objects nearby. Drone LiDAR consulting services help companies combine drone and LiDAR technologies to improve survey outputs and data for their organization.

While humans have a sophisticated way of determining depth by comparing images from their two eyes, shooting lasers from the eyes and counting the nanoseconds until they return would produce far better results. At least LiDAR makes it possible for us.

LiDAR units can also be found on many autonomous cars and prototypes. They can produce a fairly detailed 3D image which enables the computer vision systems in the car’s electronic brain to tell the difference between a truck or car, motorcycle or bicycle, or an adult or child. Each of these things can act differently and require the car to slow down or make more room on the side.

LiDAR survey can’t do it all though. It can’t read flat images like words on a sign and visibility can be disrupted in fog, smoke, snow, or large objects obstructing its view. Even so, drone LiDAR service can offer a clearer picture of the immediate environment than any human being.

Are you interested in professional drone LiDAR consulting for your organization? At Insitu, we specialize in commercial and military drones and software. To learn more about our drone LiDAR service, contact us today.

How Aerial Imagery Is ChangingOur View of the World

When natural disasters happen, it’s hard to grasp the extent of the devastation from the ground. When images surfaced from the 2017 hurricane season that damaged Texas and Florida, the most revealing shots were those taken from above. Aerial imagery captured by drones and other aircraft revealed the full story of the disaster on the ground.

Even amidst the great loss of life and home, disasters have a strange way of bringing about innovation. As humans faced tragedy, new ideaswere birthed from chaos. In areas of Florida and Texas, they put aerial drone images side by side of the region before the hurricane and after the damage was done. Emergency planners, residents, and business owners could compare what remained in place and what was completely gone.

Aerial drone imagery also offers solutions for business in far less stressful situations. From it, you can gather data which supports property-specific information about what’s happening on the ground. Aerial imaging can detect property changes, characteristics, assess liability risks, and even estimate damage.

Essentially, the technology can help assess trends over time. Images can improve our understanding of risk factors for residential or commercial properties and surrounding businesses. Aerial imagery can also offer critical information about the effects of traffic, weather, natural disasters, and more.

The main sources for high-resolution aerial imagery come from satellites, airplanes, drones, and mobile devices. While each has their own advantages and limitations, they all offer accurate and dependable data about a location when integrated. Data from all sources can be fed into information dashboards to create analytics for a range of uses.

Cameras and sensors mounted to low-flying aircraft often provide higher resolution aerial imaging than satellites up in space. Aerial platforms on planes make it possible to take oblique images because it can take pictures at 45-degree angles as well as orthogonal images. If you’re measuring square footage, roof slope, stories, and elevation heights, oblique shots are effective at providing information on new structures and other changes. They help create true 3D property models.

As soon as drone’s hit the market, their popularity exploded. The commercial aerial drone market has doubled nearly every year in the U.S. and companies are now using drones for surveillance, deliveries, and surveying crops. Some drones can be equipped with lighter or heavier cameras for more versatility and are relatively inexpensive.

Data and imagery from drones can also be used to create 3D models and take pictures of various terrain. When combined with software, the data and images can detect weather patterns and estimate damages to structures.

As innovations in the sky evolve and improve, we’ll continue to see advances in responses to disasters and inspecting property damage. Aerial imaging is the wave of the future and the future is looking up.

At Insitu, we develop commercial and military aerial drones and software to gather data from the sky. Contact us to learn more.

Could Drone Software Be Your Next Pilot?

Would you ever allow drone software to fly your plane? Even if the ticket was cheaper, over half of air travelers surveyed in 2017 declined.

While accidents in the air are generally rare, pilots are still human and occasional news stories headline about rants, fights, drunkenness, or pilot distraction. But drone solutions may change this. Drone control software installed on every plane would feature an experienced guidance system that’s always learning more.

Autopilot already controls anairplane for nearly the whole the flight. The software can handle the most distressing landings when visibility is minimal and pilots can’t tell where they are. It can create a map of its surroundings, including any obstacles, to keep the plane on the right track.

Drone solutions will soon log more flying hours than humans ever. When you combine the enormous amount of flight data and experience, drone control software applications are on their way to becoming the world’s most experienced pilots.

The World of Drones
Drones come in a range of styles from tiny quad-rotor copter toys to missile-firing winged planes. They can even be as large as a seven-ton aircraft that can fly 34 hours in the air.

When drones were initially introduced, they were flown remotely by humans which merely substituted a pilot on the ground. Newer, innovative droneas a service models don’t need pilots and can fly themselves based on human-defined routes. Universities, military agencies, and businesses are testing larger, smarter drones to operate without human pilots.

The Value of Pilot Experience
Becoming a pilot requires time and experience. To fly a small plane for personal or non-commercial use, you need to log 40 hours of flying instruction before getting your private pilot’s license. If you want to be a commercial pilot, you need to log at least 1,000 hours before serving as a co-pilot.

With drone software, every plane can have a pilot on board with as much or more experience. One software system used in many aircraft at once gains more flight time and experience each day than a human could accumulate in a year. Software pilots aren’t susceptible to fatigue, disorientation, distraction, or other human impairments which can lead to errors or cause problems in common situations.

There’s already some concern from aircraft regulators that human pilots are forgetting how to fly when taking over autopilot in an emergency. While humans may need a minute (or several) to figure out what went wrong, such as aircraft damage, a computer could assess the situation in seconds. This could buy enough time to navigate a safe landing.

In most cases when damage causes a plane to be uncontrollable, the result is a tragedy. An advanced automated system could make small changes to the plane’s steering and use its sensors to determine the effects of the movements. The software essentially learns how to fly all over again with a damaged plane.

Breaking the Psychological Barriers
The biggest barrier to fully automated flight isn’t technical, it’s psychological. People will generally put their lives in the hands in humans but not in computer systems. This thinking may shift as people begin to understand drone software has more flight experience and capabilities than any human pilot.

At Insitu, we develop drone as a service options for military and commercial use. To learn more about our innovative drone solutions, contact us today.

Testing of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Advancements in Future Aerospace Vehicles

Unmanned aircraft systems are the wave of the future and are being used to usher in even more technological advances in unmanned aerial vehicles. The first quarter of 2018 has already seen a rush of UAS activity. Including in early 2018, Boeing announced plans to use a new unmanned cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype to test their autonomy technology in preparation for future aerospace vehicles.

Boeing’s prototype is powered by an environmental-friendly electric propulsion system with eight counter-rotating blades allowing for vertical flight. The CAV prototype stands 4 feet tall, measures 15 by 18 feet, and weighs over 700 pounds. It can transport up to 500 pounds for potential future cargo and logistics applications.

Boeing’s test focused on transferring cargo with unmanned aircraft systems and is a major step in their electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) strategy. It could potentially change air travel and transport as we know it today.

The new CAV prototype, built in partnership with the Boeing HorizonX team and Boeing Research & Technology, builds on their existing unmanned aerial systems. Safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems is vital to reaching the full potential of autonomous cargo delivery and transport in the future.

The CAV prototype completed its initial flight successfully in Missouri at the Boeing Research & Technology’s Collaborative Autonomous Systems Laboratory. This test and location will serve to advance further iterations of autonomous technology for future applications.

At Insitu, we specialize in unmanned aerial vehicles and technology for defense and commercial industries. If you have questions about using unmanned aerial systems for your industry, contact us today to learn more.

We’ve come a long way since the early days of surveying. Today, many aerial survey consulting companies are offering aerial survey service with specialties in mine aerial survey. Advances in technology are making it easier to survey mines accurately and more efficiently.

Mining surveyors are responsible for accurately measuring the areas and volumes of mines. This includes a precise representation of the underground and surface situations on mining plans. When mine aerial survey entered the market, it changed the way mines are surveyed today.

Common software technologies used in aerial survey service include airborne laser scanning (LiDAR), airborne photogrammetry, satellite imagery, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). These programs and technologies are essential elements to accurately capture and process the data for use.

Airborne Laser Scanning (LiDAR)

Airborne laser scanning, or more popularly known as LiDAR, captures the mining environment. By using unmanned aerial systems, mine surveyors have an easier way of gathering data under challenging circumstances. Mine aerial survey with LiDAR allows surveyors to acquire millions of points per square kilometer. The density creates a robust dataset to use for mining applications such as geomorphology and structural geology, volume calculations, slope analysis, and surface run-off modeling for feasibility and environmental impact studies. Volumetric mapping can also be available when using LiDAR technology.

Aerial Photogrammetry

Aerial photogrammetry has provided a proven method of pit mapping and stockpile volume measurement for mining with an emphasis on 3D modeling and monitoring. After acquiring spatial data, it can be used to create digital terrain models and topographic maps. Imagery from the mine aerial survey can also be used in automated processing for producing DEMs. Aerial photogrammetry is often used today on UAVs and combined with LiDAR technology. Results can be based on the skill and expertise of the aerial survey consulting company, ground support from mine site survey staff, and good weather conditions.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Mining survey is trending toward working with UAVs with digital cameras to produce high-resolution aerial imagery. Further processing can create precise orthophotos, point clouds, and 3D models. The data gathered can be used for forecasting mine development, monitoring changes, and calculating volumes. The safety of mining workers underground can also be improved by UAVs gathering information on the surface situation.

Mining Survey of the Future

What could be more exciting than the aerial survey developments and innovations shared so far? More great technology is on the horizon making mining even more productive: virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). On a global scale, the mining industry has been an early adopter of these technologies.

VR can be used to carry out geological, geotechnical, and environmental studies. Some mines are using VR to help in decision-making for operations such as defining the mining area to environmental licensing situations or closure of a mining site.

AR superimposes a layer of interactive digital information over images of the physical world. This can offer the mining industry opportunities to improve productivity, employee safety, and reduce costs for equipment maintenance.

At Insitu, we offer professional aerial survey service and consulting to improve data collection and results for mining companies. Get in touch today to learn more.

Detecting Obstacles with LiDAR Sensors in Drones

The drone market is growing fast and so is the need for obstacle detection technologies and accurate sensing. LiDAR offers an accurate 3D map of a drone’s surroundings, performs well in bad weather conditions, and is easy to add to drones for use.

Drone LiDAR service with LiDAR sensing is becoming an important technology for autonomous drones. Drone LiDAR consulting services help users utilize LiDAR sensing for industries needing accurate obstacle detection.

Why LiDAR Sensing Is Great for Drones

LiDAR is great for several reasons: it’s a versatile technology that complements other detection methods, even outperforming them. It became a game changer for drone and unmanned vehicle manufacturers over using traditional sensing technologies (i.e. sonar or radar) due to its flexibility with specifications, integration, and form factor.

Some drones use ultrasound and stereo cameras, but these have limited range. LiDAR has no such limitations. While stereo cameras can create high-res images, they’re more sensitive to varying light conditions.

Scanning LiDAR vs. Solid-State LiDAR

It’s important to understand the difference between scanning and solid-state LiDAR. Scanning LiDAR is known as the technology that enabled revolutionary changes such as high-resolution terrain mapping or Google self-driving cars. Scanning LiDAR can create precise depictions of their surroundings; however, it comes at a high cost. This technology is often expensive, heavy, bulky, and requires fragile mechanical mobility. These factors make it not a great resource for commercial UAVs.

Solid-state (also known as fixed-beam) LiDAR is different than scanning LiDAR. Rather than being projected in several directions as single-point rays, the light source that’s the detection medium is emitted in a fixed, diffused beam. While limited in resolution and range compared to scanning, solid-state LiDAR is smaller, lighter, and require less processing.

Solid-state LiDAR has no moving parts which offer better durability. While they lack the range, resolution, and sensitivity, they are less expensive than scanning LiDAR for drone applications.

LiDAR Sensing Helping Applications for Drones and UAVs

With drone LiDAR service and sensing used for navigation, applications are varied and can include collision warning, pilot assistance, or higher levels of autonomy. Sensors are also capable of altimetry to ensure smooth takeoff and landing.

Can Drones Have a Full 360-degree View of their Environment? 

Currently, there isn’t a fully autonomous system available to provide accurate multi-directional sense-and-avoid technology for commercial UAVs. They need to be able to detect potential obstacles, determine the risk of a collision, and take action by overriding a pilot’s input (if needed) in a 360-degree sphere around the device.

This may be a few years away for consumer and commercial drones. While the sensor technology exists, other core functionalities need to be perfected such as artificial intelligence and perception algorithms. Weight and price are also significant factors for drone use. LiDAR will likely be a key factor in autonomous drones with a sensor fusion approach including LiDAR sensing for collision avoidance systems.

At Insitu, we offer professional drone LiDAR consulting and drone LiDAR service to help organizations gain accurate obstacle detection. If you’re interested in learning more about our drone LiDAR consulting services, contact us today.

Precision Agriculture Improves Crop Yields for Farmers

As the world’s population continues to increase, so does the need to produce more food globally. Farmers struggle to keep up with demand while dealing with setbacks such as weather-related incidents and poor crop yields. To adapt to the increased need while managing challenges, farmers are forgoing traditional farming methods in exchange for precision farming. Precision agriculture helps reduce waste, increase crop yields, and reduce security or economic risks.

Traditional farming methods focus on managing entire fields. Decisions are made to plant, irrigate, harvest, and apply fertilizer or pesticides based on conditions in the region and historical data. With precision agriculture, farmers use a combination of robots, sensors, mapping tools, GPS, and data analytic software to monitor a plant’s health. Precision farming allows farmers to customize care for their plants (i.e. more water, less water, more fertilizer or pesticides) without increasing labor costs.

Drones equipped with cameras and sensors can wirelessly send real-time data and images on individual plants. The information can include leaf shape, stem size, and moisture levels nearby the plant. Computers review the data and look for signs of stress and health. Precision ag feedback is immediate enabling farmers to deliver water, fertilizer, or pesticides in specific doses to the necessary areas. Precision agriculture technology can also tell farmers the best time to plant or harvest their crops.

By taking the guesswork out of farming, precision ag saves times, reduces chemical and water use, and promotes higher and healthier crop yields while reducing waste. With these time and money-savers combined, farmers are seeing an increase in their bottom line while conserving resources and chemical-use.

While it all sounds too good to be true, not all growers are adopting precision farming for various reasons. The upfront cost of equipment poses a significant barrier. This includes the expense to scale technology to large row-crop production systems. In addition, a lack of high-speed internet or broadband can be an obstacle in some remote locations. While other experienced farmers may be wary of technology or less computer-savvy for the startup process and data collection.

Yet even with these challenges, the cost savings over time may help offset current financial concerns. If long-time producers are hesitant to embrace new technology, the next generation of tech-savvy farmers may be quicker to adopt the precision ag approach to farming. As demand for food continues to increase, precision farming could be the solution needed to effectively and efficiently manage food production.

At Insitu, we specialize in precision agriculture drones and technology to help growers improve farming methods and increase crop yields. Learn more about precision farming technology by contacting us today.