Aeromapper 300 offers 25 sensors for UAV mapping

A Canadian drone company is banking on the success of its newest, high-end mapping/surveying model.

Aeromao announced the release of its latest addition to the “Aeromapper” family – the Aeromapper 300.

Designed for the professional mapping market, the Aeromapper 300 offers 25 different sensors and the company says the UAV will cover up to 15-20 square kilometers with 1.5 hours of flight time per charge.

“Many of our customers started doing surveys with commercially available small drones,” a company spokesperson said in a media statement. “After some time they realize these drones are very limited in capabilities for medium to large sized jobs, don’t have multi-sensor capabilities, can’t be customized and don’t perform well in windy conditions.”

The multi-sensor array is supported by “hot-swappable mounts,” safe parachute landing capability and is hand or catapult launch supported. Other features include long-range data/control links and fully automatic flight.

A drone with so many sensors is also sure to have a high price tag. The Aeromapper 300 ships with a basic package for $16,900 (CAD) or $15,473 USD which includes the UAV System (ready to fly, carbon fiber airframe) with carrying case, Ground Telemetry module (915 Mhz, +20 kms range), Spektrum DX8 radio control with long range system (+20 kms range), Sony Nex 7, 24 mp camera; 15 mm survey-grade, wide-angle rectilinear lens and mission-planning software as well the usual drone accessories (LiPo battery charger, etc.)

The mission-planning software integrates a variety of data. Altitude, side and length-wise overlaps, orientation of the lines, start/end waypoints, flying speed and overshoots are user definable. The Aeromapper 300 automatically calculates flight time and distance between images and triggers camera automatically. The drone features panoramic-orientation mountings camera (the top of the camera faces forward) for optimal area coverage during flight.

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As previously reported in DRONELIFE, drones and the surveying/mapping market have proven to be a perfect, technological marriage. “The automated gyroscopes, accelerometers, and GPS systems that come standard with most commercial drones can provide pinpoint readings to UAS surveillance equipment. Couple this with the fact that you can mount just about any type of camera on a drone, and the amount of data that a surveying crew could capture from the air is nearly infinite.”

Aeromapper 300 specs @ a glance

Fully autonomous flights

1.5hr endurance. Covers up to 15-20 sq.Km per flight

20 km range

Safe Parachute or belly landing

Survey grade, distortion free lens

24 or 36 mp camera

Georeferenced imagery

10 cm accuracy with few GCP

Hand launch or catapult

Wing span: 3.0 m

Fuselage length: 1.23 m

Payload capacity: 600 grams

Empty weight: 3,600 grams

Take-off Weight: 5,200 grams

Cruise Speed: 50 kmh

Maximum speed: +90 kmh

Area mapping coverage for mapping missions: 12-20 square km in 90 minutes

Endurance: 90 mins

Autopilot: APM 2.6 by 3D Robotics (Pixhawk soon)

Data link: 2 way telemetry for in-flight commands. 915 mhz, 20km mile range.

Max. altitude: 4,500 masl.