Phoenix LiDAR Systems Announces Three Lidar Solutions

Phoenix LiDAR Systems, an industry leader in commercial UAV Lidar systems, has announced its three newest Lidar solutions. The Pioneer P10, Phoenix SLAM and AIR NavBox are all designed to increase flexibility, range and efficiency in customers’ Lidar acquisition workflows. The three products are headlined by the Pioneer P10. Scheduled for a US-release in late 2018, the long-range laser sensor weighs 3.8kg and is a purpose-built, UAV Lidar mapping system with a high-power 1550nm laser. The Pioneer P10 also allows users to fly at the maximum regulation AGL of 120m (400ft) and scan more area per flight due to its... (read more)

2018-10-23 10:09:02

The Evolution of Lidar

Ron Roth of Leica Geosystems and Marcos Sirota of Sigma Space Corp explain how this technology will bring benefits through faster pulse rates and denser point clouds. Current airborne Lidar systems, such as the Leica ALS series, capture one million points per second. Increasing the pulse repetition rate is the best way to achieve dense point clouds at lower costs, as the flying speed can be increased. However, the pulse frequency is constrained by parameters such as energy consumption and eye safety. Single photon Lidar enables a much higher pulse rate to be achieved, since much less energy is needed... (read more)

2017-04-28 05:51:12

Lidar Point Cloud Segmentation

A Novel Framework for Processing Terrestrial Lidar Data

Terrestrial Lidar data has great potential to produce measurements for as-built building information modelling (BIM). Unfortunately, processing hundreds of millions of points, often contaminated by substantial noise, can be tedious and time-consuming. Normal variation analysis (Norvana) segmentation is an automatic method that can segment large terrestrial Lidar point clouds containing hundreds of millions of points within minutes. Thanks to the high speed, point density and accuracy of modern terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), as-built BIM can be conducted with a high level of detail. But TLS captures not only useful geometric information but also unwanted objects, such as people, animals or... (read more)

2019-05-10 02:00:42

Velodyne LiDAR Partners with YellowScan for Integrated UAV LiDAR

Velodyne LiDAR Inc, the world leader in 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, has announced a partnership with YellowScan to integrate its VLP-16 Puck and VLP-16 Puck LITE LiDAR sensors into YellowScan’s Surveyor for a turn-key and reliable LiDAR system for demanding UAV applications. By combining YellowScan’s LiveStation app with the real-time 3D data capture capabilities of the VLP-16 sensors – both of which feature a 360° horizontal field-of-view (FoV), 100-metre range, and weigh in at 830 grams and 590 grams, respectively – they can deliver a turn-key Surveyor system that can be mounted to any drone for short-time data... (read more)

2017-11-13 11:19:36

Global Mapper LiDAR Module Released with LiDAR Transformation Options

Blue Marble Geographics is pleased to announce the release of the LiDAR Module for Global Mapper version 15.2. This interim release features added support for the transformation (shift/rotate/scale) of LiDAR point clouds and the option to filter selected LiDAR points to a specified elevation and/or colour range. Blue Marble's geospatial data manipulation, visualization and conversion solutions are used worldwide by thousands of GIS analysts at software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as governmental and university organizations. The LiDAR Module is an optional add-on for Global Mapper, an affordable and easy-to-use GIS application that... (read more)

2017-01-06 11:05:06

Velodyne Lidar Introduces Low-cost Small Lidar Sensor

Velodyne Lidar has introduced Velabit, the company’s smallest sensor that brings new levels of versatility and affordability to 3D Lidar perception. The Velabit leverages Velodyne’s innovative Lidar technology and manufacturing partnerships for cost optimization and high-volume production. The sensor contributes to Velodyne’s mission to make high-quality 3D Lidar sensors readily accessible to everyone. The Velabit perfectly complements Velodyne’s sensor portfolio. The sensor delivers the same technology and performance found on Velodyne’s full suite of sensors and is set to be the catalyst for creating endless possibilities for new applications in a variety of industries. The compact Velabit can be embedded... (read more)

2020-01-16 09:18:33

Velodyne Lidar Open Huge Factory

Since releasing the $8k VLP-16 puck lidar, Velodyne Lidar has adapted the sensor for autonomous vehicles, UAVs, and hi-res jobs. It has also gone big on SLAM, landed $150 million in funding from Ford and Baidu, and announced a $50 solid-state lidar chip that could bring down the cost of every lidar sensor in the portfolio. Moves like these require changes behind the scenes. Why? Solid-state lidar, which is integrated onto a microchip, requires specialized facilities to produce. On top of that, auto manufacturers buy sensors at a much larger scale than geospatial customers—in the millions rather than the low thousands. This means Velodyne had to make a big manufacturing... (read more)

2017-01-19 05:03:35

YellowScan Launches Lidar Surveying Solution

YellowScan is pleased to announce the global launch of its new Lidar UAS surveying solution with its highest accuracy and most dense geo-referenced point cloud data: 3cm accuracy – 300 000 shots/s – 1.5kg. R&D development for the YellowScan Surveyor solution started in early 2015 with the same philosophy and technology foundation that has made the YellowScan Mapper. With a robust and fully integrated system designed to meet the needs of most demanding survey professionals and terrain, YellowScan Surveyor is quickly and easily adapted to any drone, generating data when and where you need it. The team has carefully selected... (read more)

2017-01-13 03:37:30

NASA Funding Flash Lidar Research

NASA has announced the latest recipients from its Small Business Technology Transfer program, which functions as a R&D program for the agency. This year, 19 small research projects received up to $125,000 each, with the promise of up to $725,000 if the projects survive to a second phase. The list includes such projects as a cardboard drone, improved image processing for landers and rovers, and multispectral imaging. The big project comes from a research company named Fibertek, who are angling to build a FLASH Lidar that will be “an innovative synthesis of key technologies that results in a >3x reduction in the size and >2x... (read more)

2017-08-16 11:36:12

Recent Developments in Airborne Lidar

Multispectral Laser Scanning, Single-photon Lidar, Hybrid Sensors and UAVs

The arrival of airborne Lidar, also referred to as airborne laser scanning (ALS), has revolutionized area-wide 3D data acquisition of topography, bathymetry, vegetation, buildings and infrastructure. This article presents an overview of the progress made since then in both sensor and aircraft technology. It also highlights how ongoing miniaturization has recently enabled the application of Lidar on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), resulting in ultra high-resolution 3D point clouds with centimetre precision. From Single to Multiple Pulses in the Air Current trends include a steady increase in the measurement rate, achievements in full-waveform processing, the spread of multispectral and topo-bathymetric laser... (read more)

2019-04-19 01:19:15