Inertial solutions for UAV LiDAR & photogrammetry surveying

UAV LIDAR georeferencing and data processing

UAV LiDAR systems rely on precise orientation and stabilization during flight to produce accurate 3D point clouds. Inertial systems, such as IMUs and INS, provide real-time data on the drone’s roll, pitch, yaw, altitude, and position.

This information is critical for adjusting the LiDAR system’s laser pulses to account for any movement or drift during flight, ensuring that the data collected is consistent and reliable.

In areas like forestry or urban environments where obstacles and terrain variations are common, an inertial system ensures the UAV maintains a stable flight path, enabling it to map even hard-to-reach areas with precision.

The combination of GNSS and INS ensures that the UAV’s position is accurately referenced to the Earth’s coordinate system, allowing for georeferencing of LiDAR data.

Georeferencing is a critical component of photogrammetry, as it links the images captured by the UAV to specific geographic coordinates. With the help of INS, UAVs can georeference each image in real-time, which significantly speeds up the data processing workflow.

The integration of IMU data with GNSS ensures that photogrammetry datasets are accurate and aligned with real-world coordinates. This capability is particularly important for large-scale projects, such as land surveys, where high precision is required to produce actionable results.

Inertial systems for photogrammetry

Photogrammetry involves capturing high-resolution images from a UAV to create detailed 2D and 3D maps. Inertial systems enhance the accuracy and efficiency of UAV photogrammetry missions by ensuring precise positioning and orientation of the UAV throughout the flight.

For photogrammetry applications, accurate positioning is essential to ensure that each image is captured at the correct location and angle. INS systems provide real-time information about the UAV’s position, orientation, and velocity, which allows the drone to fly along a pre-defined path and capture overlapping images.

These images are later stitched together to create accurate maps or 3D photogrammetry models.

Inertial systems also enable UAVs to maintain a stable flight, even in windy or turbulent conditions, ensuring that images are sharp and undistorted. This stability is especially important in industries like construction and infrastructure, where detailed measurements and models are required for planning and monitoring.

Photogrammetry and LiDAR accuracy with RTK inertial solutions

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technology is used to enhance the precision of positioning data collected by UAVs. RTK relies on the correction of GNSS signals in real time, improving the accuracy of UAV location data to centimeter-level precision.
However, GNSS alone can be affected by signal loss or degradation in certain environments, such as urban canyons or dense forests. This is where inertial systems come into play.
Post-processing workflows benefit significantly from the fusion of INS and GNSS data. This integration allows for more accurate trajectory reconstruction, particularly in environments where GNSS signals are intermittently lost.
Our INS continues to collect data even during signal loss, ensuring that the UAV’s exact position is known at all times. In post-processing, this data is merged with the GNSS data, correcting for any inaccuracies that occurred during the flight.
By combining RTK accuracy with post-processing, UAVs equipped with LiDAR and a photogrammetry system can deliver highly accurate photogrammetry or lidar datasets, even in the most challenging environments. This level of precision is crucial for industries such as land surveying, urban planning, and environmental monitoring, where accurate geospatial data is necessary for decision-making.