Velodyne Lidar, Inc. announced a multi-year agreement to provide its lidar sensors to TOPODRONE, which is based in Switzerland and develops affordable, high-precision solutions for aerial surveys. Using Velodyne lidar sensors has enabled TOPODRONE to bring high-precision mapping and 3D modeling to demanding environments including farms, forests, infrastructure and more to support development that advances economic and sustainability goals.
Velodyne and TOPODRONE will showcase their lidar-based solutions for the geospatial community at INTERGEO 2021, a world-leading expo and conference platform for geomatics and future-oriented solutions. The event takes place in Hannover, Germany on Sept. 21 to 23.
“Velodyne’s lidar sensors enable our solutions to capture intricate, precise measurements that are essential in producing a high-quality survey,” said Maxim Baklykov, Founder and CEO, TOPODRONE, a market leader in the survey sector. “The sensors’ light weight and compact form factor provide great synergy with one of TOPODRONE’s major principles of building some of the lightest lidar-based survey solutions in the market. Velodyne’s sensors provide best in class power consumption which allows drones to fly longer. Working with Velodyne has helped us leverage their well-known brand and product quality, which adds great value and customer confidence in our solutions.”
TOPODRONE is using Velodyne’s Puck™, Puck Hi-Res™ and Ultra Puck™ as the 3D data perception and mapping sensors in its survey solutions. TOPODRONE 100 LITE and TOPODRONE 200 ULTRA are lightweight and accurate solutions that can be installed on drones, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and backpack systems for mobile laser scanning. TOPODRONE 200 ULTRA, together with a Supercam SX350 VTOL, allows surveyors to cover more than 10 square kilometers per flight with high density and accurate RGB LiDAR point cloud data generated from 150 meters altitude.
TOPODRONE Delivers Precision Surveying for Customers Worldwide
TOPODRONE provides Velodyne lidar-powered scanner solutions to global markets with customers that include some of the world’s most renowned research universities. Researchers and specialists at the Natural Resources Institute Finland working on sustainable development of the Finnish bioeconomy used a TOPODRONE laser scanner mounted on a drone, quadbike and person. Even operating under hard winter conditions, such as flying under -20° C and during night, the scanner delivered high positional accuracy of collected point cloud data.
Another customer is Track Your Build, based in Sierra Leone, which offers remote sensing services for construction and infrastructure management. The company used a TOPODRONE scanner to conduct a successful topographical survey for a hydroelectric dam project. Track Your Build has now brought lidar-based surveying into its workflow for urban and rural areas to negate the need for spot elevations.
In Costa Rica, M. Eduardo Sáenz V, professional surveyor, uses TOPODRONE 100 LITE to survey forests, teak plantations, various types of farms and land for development. He commented, “The system has definitely made an impact, cutting costs and delivery times dramatically. It has proven reliable in tough working environments. The gain in time and detail are substantial. The possibilities for this tool are almost endless.”
“TOPODRONE has built an impressive global customer base by helping companies address a range of challenging mapping conditions and delivering accurate survey data,” said Erich Smidt, Vice President of Europe, Velodyne Lidar. “Their solutions demonstrate the performance and flexibility of Velodyne’s sensors by having a product family with multiple deployment modes.”
Velodyne’s lidar sensors make it quick and easy for companies to build highly accurate 3D models of any environment for mobile mapping. The sensors deliver a high-resolution, 360-degree surround view image to accurately measure and analyze the environment. The performance, range, light weight, low power consumption and compact form factor of Velodyne sensors enable developers to design versatile systems that can be configured for mobile and UAV/drone applications. Velodyne’s sensors have proven reliability, even when operating in difficult applications and weather conditions.
