Censys Technologies Corp. is bringing LiDAR to its list of universal payload options. Censys, a trailblazer in the commercial beyond visual line of site (BVLOS) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) industry, offers a remote sensing package.
Now, it is integrating LiDAR into its Sentaero family of fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft capable BVLOS.
LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging – is a remote sensor camera payload that uses pulsed laser light for 3D mapping. The LiDAR measures the time it takes that reflected laser light to return to the receiver after bouncing from the ground and measures the intensity of the pulses to provide readings of the terrain and points on the ground. This technology is especially useful for land surveying, power line inspection, topographic surveys, forestry and wildfire mitigation, precision agriculture, and mining.
“In a fixed-wing VTOL with a history of BVLOS approvals, this is a huge addition to the Sentaero line,” said Censys Technologies CEO and Co-Founder Trevor Perrott. “We’ve been working hard to integrate LiDAR over the past year to fill customer needs, and now operators who had been chained to quadcopters have a new option to do more.”
In a single flight, fixed-wing drones carrying a LiDAR payload have a system precision of 2.5 centimeters and system accuracy of 3 centimeters at 100 meters above ground level (AGL).
Censys anticipates deliveries of the LiDAR payloads to customers in August 2022.
