Consumer Drone with Lidar

sheesh wrote: »

for lidar would it not have to be autonomous to do a grid of an area. which would have to be licenced I suppose you could build your own. as it does not have a camera if you can get it below 250g you could use it without registering it.

I searched for lidar modules and found this
https://leddartech.com/solutions/leddarone/

so yes you could put that on a drone or a remote control airplane I would say

This looks doable!

well, the lidar module itself weights just over 100g but it requires 12/24V power supply so with battery weight will exceed 250g for sure. Now, you'll need drone which can handle 250g payload so forget about cheap solutions

godtabh wrote: »

I got the FIMI X8SE 2020. After doing research most of the stuff I saw was a lot more professional orientated

Interested to see how you get on with this and Lidar - as a beginner presumably?

Keep us posted.

What sort of data density, pts/m² and position accuracy are you looking for? RGB data also?

Did a lot of looking into UAV LIDAR systems for a potential project a year or so ago, large VTOL systems, and data processing solutions couple of hundred K per system.

Did get me looking into the smaller solution options also. Just a quick look but seems to be a lot more options on the market over the last year or so and prices seem to have dropped quite a bit. Velodyne have about halved their prices.

This looks interesting, Livox MID-40, https://www.livoxtech.com/showcase/1, DJI are selling it for €599.

Small, but at 710g will still take a reasonably substansial vehicle to carry it.

godtabh wrote: »

I got the FIMI X8SE 2020. After doing research most of the stuff I saw was a lot more professional orientated

Just curious OP, your post mentioned topo surveys. Instead of LIDAR, have you considered photogrammetry for the meantime? Just looking at the specs of your FIMI and it should be capable of producing decent results.



I had originally bought a little Mavic Mini for the same reason. Produced some surprisingly good results with it, Orthomosaic's & DEM's etc. Enough to point me down the road of building a vehicle to carry a compact DSLR for even better results.

godtabh wrote: »

What software do you use

Still experimenting, tried a number of various packages, most have a 14 day trial. Some get very expensive after that.

Liked 3DF Zephyr, full free trial, then gives you a free version limited to 50 Photo limit, which can cover a reasonable area, €150 or so for their lite version, 500 photo limit.

Been meaning to try Maps Made Easy, a web based cloud processioning service, looks OK. Not expensive.

Had an old copy Agisoft PhotoScan Professional (Now Agisoft Matashape) from a job I worked on years ago for different application, tried it with images taken at a number of locations. Attached image was first try/flight, 50 images, no ground control, no tinkering with data. Relative accuracy was surprisingly good.

Export Google .kmz orthomosaics for google earth pro. Use QGIS, dump in the exported orthos/DEM's/point cloud. QGIS isnt fussy, to generate contours/get elevation measurements/volumes etc.