Category Archives: Aerial/UAS
Buying a Drone for the Holidays?
Friends know of my interest in unmanned aerial systems, so they ask me, “What kind of drone should I buy for Christmas?” I probe a little further to define what their “use case” is. It usually boils down to two categories. 1) For the kids: Cheap. If you’re looking for a toy drone to have...
Disparate Data for Marine Life
Remote sensing data helps to inform ocean planning for energy development around the main Hawaiian islands. Using remotely sensed imagery to map physical and biological patterns in the marine environment enhances our ability to understand how environmental conditions change over broad spatial scales (10s to 100s of kilometers) and temporal scales (years to decades). These...
Single-Photon Lidar
SPL collects massive data from the air, uses less power, and can see through semi-porous objects with green lasers. Technological advances in our industry have truly been a sight to behold. It seems like when you blink, already there’s a faster, smaller version of the instrument you just bought. Look at aerial lidar, for instance–who...
UAS Crystal Ball 2017
Four things to watch for in the UAS space next year. Regulation: I just made up an acronym—“GBVLOS”—Getting beyond visual line of sight. With the rollout of the FAA’s Rule 107 allowing sUAS into the NAS for commercial work, the profession breathed a sigh of relief. Issues still remain, though: namely exemptions for BVLOS. So...
UAS: Measuring for Solar
Above: The Mortenson team prepares their senseFly drone for flight. With a UAS, a construction firm finds value—in addition to what can be measured—in real-time assessment and data availability. Surveying plays a crucial role in construction, from initial planning to final as-built verification, often in multiple phases. However, terrestrial survey methods come with challenges for...
UAS Surveying without GCPs
The subject of applying direct georeferencing to UAS platforms was a recurrent theme at the 2016 Commercial UAV Expo last week. Direct georeferencing offers the possibility of mapping without the use of ground control points, providing UAS operators a significant advantage in terms of speed. As an example of this technology, we reached out to...
