Swiss airborne mapping company Leica Geosystems has teamed up with German UAS manufacturer Aibotix to create a one-stop shop for infrastructure inspection and mapping.
Aibotix makes unmanned aerial systems (UAS) multicopters to carry out inspections of installations such as power plants and lines, bridges and dams. They are also used for mapping buildings, because they are built to take off and land vertically.
Joerg Lamprecht, Aibotix managing director, said: “The Aibotix X6 multicopter was designed specifically for inspection applications in difficult areas with no piloting expertise required. “It thus features simple operation, easy and plug-and-play payload integration, fully autonomous flight planning and execution as well as a number of monitoring features to ensure safe operation. Leica Geosystems is an ideal partner for us as the leading manufacturer of surveying, mapping and geospatial solutions with a global distribution network.” The new co-operation and distribution agreement will extend Leica’s range of mapping solutions and take Aibotix technology to a wider customer base.
Leica spokesman Rüdiger Wagner said: “UAS-based mapping solutions are on the increase and we have been carefully expanding our exposure to this market by focusing on select applications. Together with Aibotix we can create more solutions for more applications that fit our customer’s needs perfectly.
Headquartered in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica is part of Sweden’s Hexagon Group and maintains U.S. headquarters in Norcross, Ga. The company also specializes in offering digital airborne and lidar sensors for the geospatial industry.
AVs are increasingly used by governments in Europe and elsewhere abroad for law enforcement, transportation, public safety, and disaster assessment. U.S. law continues to ban the use of UAVs for commercial use.
Lightweight unmanned aerial multicopter systems such as Aibotix’ X6 – with advanced, multi-sensor, intelligent guidance systems – are proving ideal for infrastructure inspections of powerlines, bridges, dams and power plants.
The X6 has a plug-and-play payload integration, fully autonomous flight planning and execution, and monitoring features to ensure safe operation, the company said.
Because of their vertical takeoff-and-landing capability and payload capacity, UAS systems represent an ideal platform for vertical and locally focused mapping tasks such as buildings and other vertical structures including rock faces.
“The Aibotix X6 multicopter was designed specifically for inspection applications in difficult areas with no piloting expertise required,” said Joerg Lamprecht, managing director at Kassell, Germany-based Aibotix, whose name joins “AI” from artificial intelligence and “BOTIX” from robotics.
UAS mapping services for inspection applications will be available from Leica starting in October. Leica’s airborne sensor portfolio includes the popular Leica RC30, the Leica RCD30 series of medium format digital frame cameras, the Leica ADS pushbroom sensors, the Leica ALS LiDAR series, and the Leica IPAS GNSS/IMU solutions.
Sources: Opti-cal; Spar Point Group