Censys Technologies Adds LiDAR To Payload Options

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M Crosby

Censys Technologies, a leading developer of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) unmanned aerial systems, is incorporating LiDAR into its offering of universal payload options.

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Censys provides a unique remote sensing solution that offers an innovative approach to the collection of aerial information for use in sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, public safety and more, by assembling the leading airborne intelligence software and hardware solutions. Censys is now implementing LiDAR into its Sentaero family, a line of BVLOS-capable fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensor camera payload utilizing pulsed laser light to perform 3D mapping. LiDAR functions by measuring the time its laser light takes to return to its receiver after reflecting off of a surface, and then observing the pulsing of the laser to produce an analysis of the ground’s terrain. This technology proves particularly advantageous in use cases such as land surveying, power line inspection, topographic surveys, forestry and wildfire mitigation, precision agriculture, and mining. During a single flight, fixed-wing drones equipped with a LiDAR payload possess a system precision of 2.5 centimeters, as well as a system accuracy of 3 centimeters at 100 meters above ground level.

“In a fixed-wing VTOL with a history of BVLOS approvals, this is a huge addition to the Sentaero line,” said Trevor Perrott, CEO and Co-Founder of Censys Technologies. “We’ve been working hard to integrate LiDAR over the past year to fill customer needs, and now operators who had been chained to quadcopters have a new option to do more.”

Customers are expected to receive deliveries of the LiDAR payloads this month.

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.