Stuttgart, Germany, September 17, 2019 – Applanix, a Trimble Company (NASDAQ: TRMB), introduced today LiDAR Quality Control (LiDAR QC) Tools for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)—a new software module supported by the latest release of Applanix’ industry-leading GNSS-aided inertial post-processing software packages, POSPac Mobile Mapping Solution (MMS) and POSPac Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs are specifically designed to achieve higher accuracy LiDAR point clouds from a UAV by performing two key functions: Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) boresight calibration and trajectory adjustment.
The announcement was made today at INTERGEO 2019, the world’s largest conference on geodesy, geoinformatics and land management.
The Applanix booth is located in Hall 3, stand F3.093.
“Without accurate IMU boresight calibration, the full benefits of using LiDAR on a UAV to create efficient and accurate point clouds cannot be achieved. The LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs provide a simple and very cost-effective way of automatically and accurately deriving the IMU boresights directly from overlapping sections of the point cloud. This guarantees higher-accuracy, higher-quality data for every mission,” said Joe Hutton, Applanix’ Director of Inertial Technology and Airborne Products.
In addition to accurate IMU boresight calibration, the LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs can also use the point cloud to check, and if necessary adjust, the relative accuracy of the POSPac SBET (Smooth Best Estimated of Trajectory) being used to generate the point cloud. This is especially useful in the cases where the GNSS accuracy in one section of the mission may have been degraded due to signal blockage. The adjusted trajectory can then be used to generate a new, more accurate point cloud and to georeference other sensors attached to the LiDAR (such as cameras).
Adding the LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs to existing workflows is made easy using the POSPac user-friendly GUI, or through the POSPac batch processing mode for quick “push-button” operations. LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs streamlines the process of initial payload calibration and boresight check in the field, ensuring the highest accuracy and quality for every mission.
LiDAR QC Tools for UAVs is available with POSPac MMS and POSPac UAV through Applanix sales channels.
About Applanix
Applanix, a Trimble Company (NASDAQ: TRMB), develops, manufactures, sells and supports products and solutions for mobile mapping and positioning. Applanix’ products and solutions are used in a variety of applications, including road profiling, GIS data acquisition, aerial surveying and mapping, railroad track maintenance and seafloor mapping. Established in 1991, Applanix supports its growing global customer base with exceptional service.
