Riga – October 17, 2017 – To bring technically advanced solutions for surveyors, land engineers, researchers, rescue service providers and sappers – SPH Engineering – the developer of leading drone mission planning software UgCS and Radarteam Sweden AB – the manufacturer of Ground Penetrating Radars completed test flights combining Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, drone) and GPR technologies.
For the test, a Radarteam Sweden AB Cobra Plug-in Ground Penetrating Radar with SE-70 antenna and penetration of 80 m was integrated with DJI M600 drone.
GPR is a geophysical method using radar pulses to image the subsurface. As displayed in the processed data image, during the test flight over an abandoned area some objects were detected in 10-16 m depth with the drone flying on 5 m AGL altitude.
“A GPR installed on a drone enables to see through the surface of ground, ice, rocks and buildings or through structures at unsafe and hazardous environments without compromising the safety of staff, providing an additional solution for more efficient surveying” added Per Wikström, Radarteam Sweden AB CEO/ Managing Director.
The information and results acquired during the test flights will be put together to develop best practice recommendations for the use of GPR installed on a drone and flight mission planning in UgCS to acquire usable data for post-processing.
“UgCS has proven to provide sophisticated tools for professional UAV surveyors to acquire data with diverse camera types, LIDAR or towed magnetometers. The list of drone applications is expanding with every day, so the development of UgCS has to be one step ahead – therefore experienced team members of SPH Engineering and Radarteam Sweden AB joined forces to researched the not so usual combo of a drone and a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to create guidelines for its usage,” informed Janis Kuze, SPH Engineering Sales director.
A video fragment of the test flight: https://youtu.be/BY5A5QzSciM
About UgCS
UgCS is a complete platform developed by SPH Engineering to plan and fly drone survey missions. Automated drone mission planning, built-in photogrammetry and geotagging tools, map customization and battery exchange option for long routes make UgCS an effective solution for professional applications. UgCS is unified mission planner for all popular UAV platforms to control and monitor one or multiple drones on a single mission, in multi-operator mode or multi-platform environment. SPH Engineering offers unmanned systems integration services: building, acquiring and consulting on the selection of airframes, autopilots, payloads for a particular application and performing proof of concept projects and software development. Discover: www.ugcs.com
About Radarteam Sweden AB
Leading manufacturer of GPR, Ground-Penetrating Radars, pioneer in developing of hi-penetrating lightweight airborne radars. The GPR-systems have cutting-edge technology for both shallow and very deep applications. In 2011 a pioneered Real Time Sampling (RTS) GPR technology was integrated in world’s first commercially available RTS-system – the Cobra Plug-In GPR. This very compact and light system with wireless operation between GPR, antenna and control unit enables it to be operated airborne. Discover: www.radarteam.se
