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.

Aerial Survey Service and Uses in Mining

While aerial photography has been used in geological surveys since the early 1900s, recent years have brought significant advances in technology for aerial survey and mapping. New companies are emerging to offer comprehensive aerial survey service and drone consulting to help industries, such as mining, capitalize on the benefits of drone or unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology and software solutions.
Aerial surveying allows you to collect information by using aerial photography or remote sensing technology with infrared, gamma, or ultraviolet rays. Aerial survey service and mapping can detect mine surface deformations and monitor changes with immediate, real-time data.

Aerial Survey Service in Mining

Surveying has been used in mining for many years to assisting mining companies with exploration, mine design, feasibility, development, operations, and more. Most of the historic methods included aerial photography and photogrammetry. Results heavily depended upon the experience, skill, knowledge, weather, and the speed of an aerial survey consulting company and mine survey staff.

While basic principles of mine surveying have remained largely unchanged throughout time, the instruments used to gather data have not. Aerial survey service, Lidar, drones, terrestrial laser scanning, software, and more have become an essential part of mine surveying today.

With active mining operations, aerial survey mapping is a necessary tool to discover mine surface deformations while monitoring changes to depths of pits, waste dump height, and tailing dump levels. Aerial survey simplifies and speeds up the exploration process making it the go-to for many mine exploration companies. Detail has been significantly enhanced due to the availability and combinations of radar, multi-spectral, and IR imaging. Several flyovers allow prospects to be seen in varying light during different seasons, reducing the cost of regional exploration by reducing repeated trips to a location for reassessment.
Spatial data derived from digital mapping can support a wide range of mining activities, including:

• Exploration
• Resource evaluation
• Design or construction of mine infrastructure
• Calculating the pit, ore body, and void volumes to plan mines
• Occasional calculation of pit, bench, and spoil service volumes for auditing payments to contractors
• Occasional calculation of volumes for accounting and inventory purposes
• Environmental monitoring, planning, and reporting for a mining operation

Aerial survey consulting and aerial survey service for the mining industry are critical for conducting successful mining operations. These methods, the technology, and software have revolutionized mining exploration by changing the way mining operations are conducted.

At Insitu, we specialize in aerial survey consulting and drone consulting to help industries like mining gain the most value out of today’s survey technology and methods. Contact us today to learn more about aerial survey service options for your mining operation.