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Wingcopter Expands into Long-Range LiDAR Surveying

Miriam McNabb

New Application Enables Efficient Infrastructure and Terrain Mapping

Wingcopter has announced an expansion of its offerings to include long-range beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) LiDAR surveying solutions. The Wingcopter 198, the company’s flagship drone, will be equipped with advanced laser scanning and camera systems to enable rapid, high-quality data collection.

The new system allows customers to survey up to 37 miles (60 km) of infrastructure in one mission while carrying a 10 lbs (4.5 kg) sensor system. This capability makes it suitable for inspecting power lines, pipelines, railways, and roads, as well as mapping difficult-to-access terrain and vegetation.

Announcement at GEO WEEK

The announcement took place at GEO WEEK in Denver, Colorado, a trade show focused on geospatial technology. Wingcopter is showcasing the new application at the event, highlighting its capabilities in high-accuracy mapping. The planned system can collect up to 570 pts/m² with a sensor accuracy of 10 mm and a precision of 5 mm. Using a high-end LiDAR sensor, the Wingcopter 198 can scan up to 2,560 acres (10.3 square kilometers) in a single 42-minute BVLOS mission.

Ansgar Kadura, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Wingcopter, stated: “After years of developing and relentless testing, we have frozen the Wingcopter 198 in the configuration that is currently undergoing FAA type certification in the United States. The drone has unique payload and range characteristics, and with a proven product lifetime of more than 1,000 flight hours, it is one of the most reliable long-range eVTOL UAS on the market. Based on this configuration, we are developing a solution to address the field of high-quality LiDAR surveying and integrating the best commercially available sensor systems. I look forward to discussing with surveyors and learning about their vision for an ideal BVLOS LiDAR surveying drone.”

Growing Interest in Brazil

There is strong interest in Wingcopter’s surveying solutions in Brazil. Synerjet, Wingcopter’s authorized local partner, plans to deploy fleets of Wingcopter 198 drones in the surveying market.

Augustinho Simoes, Synerjet’s Director of Drone Operations and Development, explained: “Together with Wingcopter, we are developing custom applications, adding more functionality to the aircraft and meeting requirements from other industries, such as asset inspections, vegetation monitoring and mapping. The first version will be equipped with a high-end LiDAR sensor that offers a wide 100-degree field of view and an extremely high pulse repetition rate of up to 2.4 MHz. The measuring beam is emitted consecutively in three different directions: it alternates from strictly nadir to +10 degrees forward, and to -10 degrees backward. This allows data acquisition with unparalleled completeness in data capture, especially in challenging environments with vertical surfaces, narrow canyons, transmission lines, railways, highways, forest plantations and many other applications.”

Those interested in Wingcopter’s LiDAR surveying capabilities and potential partnerships can find more details at www.wingcopter.com/surveying.

For additional details on Wingcopter and its technology, visit www.wingcopter.com.

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