Category Archives: Aerial/UAS
The Fixed-Wing Fix
Why a multi-discipline firm chose a fixed-wing sUAS solution for large-scale surveying and quantities for mines and quarries. Editor’s note: When xyHt began covering the rise of sUAS for AEC applications years ago, many of the early successful entries into the burgeoning sUAS market were fixed-wing craft, like those from Gatewing (that we wrote about...
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...
No Need to Buy to Fly
A startup took the idea of developing a complete sUAS workflow—hardware, software and processing services—and grew this into a premier sUAS rental/leasing service. Things move fast in the world of UAV/UAS/RPAS/drones. For example, DJI was just another UAV startup company when it was founded in 2006, and the name was not well known to the North...
The Evolution of Using Lidar
Above: Gary Rust (left) and Anthony Whitlock from Springs Utilities pose with their LiDAR USA HiWay Mapper HD. The history of a Colorado utility systematically deploying lidar technology reveals lidar’s journey as an asset. Located at the base of Pikes Peak on the front range of the Colorado Rockies, Colorado Springs Utilities is a city-owned...
Build, Buy, Rent, or Hire?
Seven years ago I was invited to attend a UAS flight course; this was an exciting proposition as the drone craze was not yet under way. In fact, the rules for operating drones in the U.S. were so in flux (as far as commercial and private drone use) that the course had to be held...
Embrace the Mesh
Above: A full 3D textured model of San Francisco produced through Skyline’s PhotoMesh 3D Reconstruction software and streamed for visualization and analytics in Skyline’s TerraExplorer. Surveyors and photogrammetrists capture reality data. But to model, manage, and provide access to massive and complex datasets—to provide your clients with true 3D mesh reality capture—you’re going to need...
