A comparison of VTOL mapping drones

Press

For some time now, VTOL drones have entered the field of aerial mapping. These Vertical Takeoff and Landing drones offer the flexibility and ease of use of a multirotor combined with the range and stability of a fixed wing UAV.

At The Fieldwork Company we have been using both fixed wing and multirotor drones for aerial surveys for many years, and always like to stay at the forefront of technology. So we decided to create a comparison of some VTOL mapping models to guide us in buying the right model for us. Hopefully, this will help others choose what fits their needs.

Three commercially available VTOL mapping systems are the Vertical Technologies DeltaQuad, Wingtra WingtraOne and AtmosUAV Marlyn. They all boast impressive websites and present a lot of figures that are not always easy to understand or put into context.
The key focus of the comparison was price, performance and options. We have omitted several properties that were either identical in all models, or not relevant to the core task. For example, they all offer PPK, a rugged flight case and automated survey generation.

All data below is based on published specifications, information requested from the manufacturer and in some cases derived or based on common sense. So here goes comparing VTOL apples with apples.

	DeltaQuad Pro #MAP	Wingtra WingtraOne	AtmosUAV Marlyn
Coverage at 3cm/px	1000ha	400ha	300ha
Coverage at 10cm/px	3500ha	1800ha	1100ha
Lowest ground resolution	0.4 cm/px	0.7 cm/px	0.7 cm/px
Payload capacity	1200g	800g	1000g
Max telemetry range	20 km / Unlimited (4G)	8 km	3 km
Setup time	1 minute	5 minutes	7 minutes
Preflight calibrations	None	Airspeed sensor	Airspeed sensor
Manual remote control required	No	Yes	Yes
4G/LTE support	Yes	No	No
FPV video support	Yes	No	No
Simulator included	Yes	No	No
Backpack included	No	Yes	Yes
Flight redundancy (separated drives)	Yes	No	No
Swappable payloads	Yes	Yes	No
Supported cameras	Sony A7R-III Sony RX1R-II Sony A6000 Micasense RedEdge MapIR Survey3 Flir Duo Pro R	Sony RX1R-II Sony QX1 Micasense RedEdge	Sony RX1R-II Sony QX1 Micasense RedEdge
Dry weight	5.0 Kg	3.7 Kg	5.7 Kg
Wing span	235 cm	125 cm	160 cm
Max flight distance	100 km	50 km	30 km
Max flight time	110 minutes	55 minutes	50 minutes
Max cruise wind specified	45 km/h	40 km/h	45 km/h
Max takeoff & landing wind specified	33 km/h	30 km/h	Not specified
Effective max wind for mapping *	30 km/h	30 km/h	30 km/h
Package Price ** – RX1R-II camera – PPK with base – Ground station – Rugged flightcase	DeltaQuad Pro #MAP € 19.600	Wingtra WingtraOne – No PPK Base € 29.500	AtmosUAV Marlyn – No PPK Base – No ground station € 30.400

* The maximum wind conditions listed are those in which the vehicle can still operate safely, these are generally not conditions in which a mapping mission is feasible. Wingtra has released a video showing how their vehicle operated in high wind conditions that clearly show conditions unsuitable for mapping:

** The prices indicated are based on quotations from the manufacturer. To give a fair comparison we have requested exactly the same options on every model: The Sony RX1R-II, a PPK system with base station, a ground control station and a rugged flight case. Not all quotations included all components and the deviations are listed.

Based on our comparison we chose the DeltaQuad as it offers the most range per flight and the most moderate price. So far we have been pleased with the results, their specifications seem to match reality and the system flies very stable.