LIDAR

Sony has announced the AS-DT1, a brand-new miniature LiDAR depth sensor that’s packed with advanced tech and designed to make your drone missions smarter, faster, and more precise.

GeoCue is making high-precision drone LiDAR more affordable and accessible with the launch of two new survey-grade scanners: the TrueView 1 Lite (TV1 Lite) and TrueView 1 (TV1). These cutting-edge additions to the TrueView lineup are designed to help professionals of all levels harness the power of LiDAR without breaking the bank.

German drone maker Wingcopter is shaking things up! Known for its cargo drones, the company is now stepping into the world of long-range LiDAR surveying. The Wingcopter 198, their flagship drone, is getting a serious tech boost — high-end laser scanning and camera systems — to make mapping and infrastructure inspections faster and more precise than ever.

LiDAR mapping specialist GeoCue and Swiss drone manufacturer Xer Technologies are joining forces to make large-scale surveying and mapping easier for professionals. The two companies are integrating GeoCue’s TrueView 720 LiDAR and imagery sensor with Xer’s X8 drone, creating a tool to make aerial mapping faster, more accurate, and more accessible.

Advanced navigation and positioning technology provider Inertial Labs is developing a state-of-the-art LiDAR system for Sony’s Airpeak drone. The partnership will enhance the drone’s capabilities in various applications, including surveying, mapping, and cinematic videography.

DJI has released a new firmware update for the Zenmuse L2 aerial LiDAR payload. The update includes support for H.265 video encoding, extended IMU calibration interval, optimized Point Cloud LiveView display, reduced file size for point cloud recordings, and fixes for issues including an incorrect display of gimbal connectors and problems with RGB Coloring and task quality report retrieval.

LiDAR tech specialist GeoCue has released three new survey-grade TrueView LiDAR systems for commercial drones such as the DJI M300 RTK.

Switzerland-based VTOL drone manufacturer Wingtra has released a new LiDAR payload for its GEN II commercial mapping drone. The solution is being hailed as a significant advancement in lightweight drone sensors since it pairs precision with instant data alignment, unmatched ease of use (no calibration required), and exceptional efficiency.

Confined spaces and indoor drone specialist Flyability has released a new LiDAR surveying payload for the Elios 3. Available as part of a bundle including training, reflective targets, and specialized processing software, FARO Connect, Flyability’s new Ouster OS0-128 Rev 7 payload is designed for safe, centimeter-accurate scans of hard-to-reach areas.

DJI has released the successor to its popular Zenmuse L1 aerial LiDAR payload. The new DJI Zenmuse L2 comes with an enhanced RGB camera, upgraded LiDAR module, and improved accuracy. Prices start at $13,560.

Dutch drone maker DeltaQuad says its latest Evo aircraft with a flight time of up to 2.5 hours is now integrated with a combined Yellowscan LiDAR and RGB system. As such, the fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone can offer colorized LiDAR mapping for up to 500 hectares in a single flight.

Microdrones, an aerial mapping technology company with German roots, has built a new drone platform to cater to the demands of surveying professionals. Named EasyOne, the new Microdrones offering is an optimized and fully integrated drone system with the lifting power to carry LiDAR and photogrammetry surveying equipment.

In what is believed to be the first mission of its kind in the world, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has successfully used a drone to map a vault that was built in the 1960s to store radioactive nuclear waste.

Swiss mapping, surveying, and modeling tech company TOPODRONE has introduced its AQUAMAPPER solution that adds underwater LiDAR and bathymetry capacities to the company’s range of drone-transported data collection equipment.

European drone manufacturer FIXAR is joining forces with LiDAR solutions specialist YellowScan to equip the FIXAR 007 fixed-wing VTOL with YellowScan Mapper+ OEM LiDAR mapping solution.

Draganfly has announced a new delivery drone called Heavy Lift, which can transport packages weighing up to 67 pounds (30kg) to customers within 18 miles (30km). The Canadian drone manufacturer said over two decades of industry experience has gone into making this engineering feat possible. In addition, Draganfly has launched a long-range laser scanning system that can produce survey-grade point cloud data.

Flyability, the Switzerland-based maker of the popular Elios range of drones for indoor and confined-space inspections, is ready with its next offering: Elios 3. It’s the world’s first collision-tolerant drone equipped with a LiDAR sensor for indoor 3D mapping.

Treeswift, a Philadelphia-based startup that has spun out of the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Laboratory, has secured $4.8 million in seed funding to build a drone-based forest monitoring system.

Autonomous drone mapping startup Emesent has announced its latest survey-grade LiDAR payload: Hovermap ST. The lightweight, IP65-rated solution is being launched with Emesent’s new Automated Ground Control feature that, the company stresses, enables autonomous data capture in harsher environments than ever and for a wider range of use cases.

Spanish researchers are turning to drones packing Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors in their management of the nation’s forests facing the annual summer scourge of massive wildfires.

You know you must be doing something right when the judge you’re trying to impress offers to team up with you for an early demonstration of your solution. This is what happened at this year’s Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize pitch event.