Dufour Aerospace successfully performs first functional test with RIEGL Lidar system

Swiss drone innovator Dufour Aerospace announced the first successful use of a commercial sensor application on one of its tilt-wing drones. With the support of RIEGL, the Austrian manufacturer of state-of-the-art laser measurement systems, a VUX-120-23 Lidar system was integrated and successfully flown with an AeroMini10 drone platform. The aim of the tests is to validate new and more efficient methods for large-scale data acquisition using large-scale drones.

Within a short period of time, the laser scanner managed to acquire good quality data. The flight behaviour of a tilt-wing drone – which after transition flies exactly like a fixed-wing drone – is ideal for efficient data acquisition and is predestined for the use of high-performance Lidar systems, such as the VUX-120-23. Further testing on bigger platforms and in more challenging environments will follow.

For Dufour Aerospace, the flights mark another milestone in their go-to-market activities. It was the first time a productive, commercial off-the-shelve high-value, high-quality payload was carried by a Dufour Aerospace drone. Sascha Hardegger, CEO of Dufour Aerospace, said: “There is growing interest among various private and public stakeholders in high-resolution, up-to-date and cost-effective data, particularly around environmental hazards, energy production or infrastructure inspection. Today, airplanes and helicopters are used for large-scale or long-range, high-resolution laser scanning. This test series will demonstrate the efficiency of drone application with a view to a lower environmental impact and significant cost reductions.”

Michael Mayer, Managing Director of RiCOPTER UAV GmbH, a RIEGL group company, said: “We are looking forward to further test flights with our high-end Lidar sensors with Dufour. The first measurement campaign went very well, and we are convinced that the combination of our scanners with high-end UAVs such as those from Dufour offers a very promising solution for the future.”

The functional tests took place in Mengen, Germany and are part of a larger project involving several stakeholders. In addition to Dufour Aerospace and RIEGL, these include BSF Swissphoto, a Swiss-German geodata company engaged in the acquisition of aerial images, oblique images, thermal images and laser data and the delivery of geospatial data products such as digital orthophotos, true orthophotos, 3D meshes and elevation models. The fourth partner is the WSL-Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, a world-renowned research institute in its field. It conducts solution-oriented research on natural hazards, mountain ecosystems, and snow and ice in a changing world.