All posts by Matteo Luccio
Hidden Infrastructure in 3D: Visualizing with AR
A visualization platform overlays data displays on your view of a job site by fusing data, AR software, and mobile-device sensors. From Superman’s x-ray vision, to current technologies that use radio waves to sense objects through walls. The ability, fictional or actual, to “see” through obstacles has long been a source of fascination. (Above: An...
3D Evidence
Diagram software helps the New Mexico State Police enhance their extensive forensics work. Reconstructing what happened at the scene of a traffic accident or a crime is a complex undertaking involving scientific methods, physical evidence, deductive reasoning—and their interrelationships. It also requires hardware to gather data and software to analyze it and display it. Laser...
UAV Stakes Out New Ground
Above: A prototype of the Civdrone UAV preparing to drill a stake into the ground. A flying/staking robot has taken a huge step forward in automation for site layout, including road, rail, utilities, and energy applications. Working the traditional way, how many surveyor-days would it take to mark the 300,000 points needed to lay out a...
Accuracy with a Phone?
Photogrammetry is now possible using consumer devices, and the applications are vast. Continuing improvement in digital cameras—including those in cell phones—and in photogrammetry algorithms have enabled dozens of consumer and professional photogrammetric applications. Among the professional ones is PhotoModeler, which produces accurate maps, drawings, CAD data, 3D models, and photos draped on 3D models. Its...
NASA’s Eyes on Mars
NASA’s InSight Mars lander took this image using its robotic arm-mounted Instrument Deployment Camera. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. An old imaging technology is outdated for use on Earth, but it’s the perfect fit for today’s remote-sensing needs on Mars. Since 1960, at the dawn of the space age, humankind has launched dozens of missions to Mars, from...
UAVs Enter the Sharing Economy
Above: A hypothetical Hangar mission plan for a city. A new platform connects UAV owners and UAV users while providing flight plans and image processing. As the UAV industry continues to grow rapidly, many companies are wondering whether they should own and operate their own UAV and, if they decide to purchase one, how they...