The first drone lidar to measure shallow water depth
ASTRALiTe's edge™ is the world's first small topographic and bathymetric scanning drone lidar that can detect small underwater objects, measure shallow water depths, and measure critical underwater infrastructure from small drone platforms.
The edge™ can see underwater at depths of 0-5 meters and is completely independent of its own inertial navigation system with GNSS, battery and onboard computer. It weighs around 5kg and is designed to be deployed on unmanned aerial systems for faster, safer and more accurate bathymetry. The patented 2-in-1 topographic and bathymetric lidar provides centimeter-level depth resolution. This lidar has many possible applications, such as coastal mapping, infrastructure inspection, and even military logistics.
The importance of georeferencing and motion stabilization
“We needed motion and navigation solutions for LiDAR. Our requirements included high accuracy as well as low size, weight and power,” explains Andy Gisler, head of lidar systems at ASTRALiTe. Additionally, the system needed to be able to apply post-processing kinematic (PPK) corrections to the lidar data, providing ASTRALiTe's customers with greater accuracy.
LiDAR provides a comprehensive point cloud that requires motion compensation and georeferencing to use. There are two ways to achieve the centimeter-level accuracy that surveyors demand. The first is Real Time Kinematic (RTK), which utilizes corrections obtained in real time from a base station or network of base stations over a radio or GSM link. The second is the PPK software used after the mission. The software will use the same correction method as RTK, but will also recalculate all inertial data and raw GNSS observations using a forward-backward merge algorithm to correct all trajectories, fill in any positional losses, and greatly improve overall accuracy.
ASTRALiTe selected SBG Systems' dual-antenna Ellipse2-D inertial navigation system, which provides motion, RTK and PPK.
The weight of the INS/GNSS solution is especially important to ASTRALiTe as they are designing a system to fly on most UAVs, and UAV compatibility requires light payload capability. Considering the possibility of using two antennas is a key factor as they require a robust heading even at low speeds. In addition to this, they also use Qinertia, the in-house post-processing software of the SBG system.
This PPK software provides access to offline RTK corrections from over 7000 base stations located in 164 countries and is designed to help drone integrators get the most out of
Its GNSS or INS/GNSS solution.
FDG-130X drone lidar system integrates 26M camera and 32-line mechanical laser, dual echoes, good penetration, high operating efficiency, small size, light weight, perfect fit for various mainstream drones on the market, 360 field of view It can meet both airborne and vehicle-mounted use, and is widely used in terrain mapping, power channel inspection, digital city and other industries.
System parameters
Point cloud accuracy: 10cm@100m
Point cloud density: 64pts/m²@100m@10m/s
Equipment weight: 1.3Kg Product size: 14.2cm*10.9cm*12cm
System power consumption: 20W
Storage space: Internal flash memory 64G+128G SD card
Power Range: 12-24V
Working temperature: -20℃-55℃
Platform: Airborne, Vehicle
POS performance indicators
Model: gSpin210
Data update frequency: 200Hz
GNSS signal type: GPS L1/L2; GLO L1/L2; GAL E1/E5b; BDS B1/B3/B2a
Positioning accuracy: horizontal 0.02m, elevation 0.03m
Pitch angle accuracy: 0.015°
Roll angle accuracy: 0.015°
Heading angle accuracy: 0.040°
Laser performance index
Measuring range: 80m@10% reflectivity, the maximum measuring range is 120m
Ranging accuracy: ±2cm
Number of lines: 32 lines
Horizontal field of view: 360°
Vertical field of view: 31°
Dot frequency: 1.28 million dots/second (dual echo)
Camera
Pixels: 26 million
Field of view: 83°
Shooting Mode: Isochronous/Isometric
