UAS Operations

We are able to support research projects and teaching programs with fully supported data acquisition by experienced professional flight crews operating our unmanned aircraft platforms and sensors.

The standard survey types that we can support using unmanned aircraft include:

• 3D Laser scanning (LiDAR)
• RGB (red-green-blue) photographic survey, which can be processed using photogrammetry software to construct colourised 3D point clouds and meshes, digital elevation models (DEM), and ortho-rectified composite images (orthomosaics).
• 4-channel multispectral imaging  (Parrot Sequoia sensor) 
• Laser altimetry 

Additional sensing / survey options including thermal and hyperspectral imaging may be available either through our various collaborations or through additional equipment purchase, so please feel free to get in touch to discuss any other requirements.

For longer term projects, in particular those involving frequent repeat acquisitions or remote locations, it may be more efficient for the project personnel to operate the UAS themselves. We are happy to provide equipment loan to support this, and will also provide initial training and instruction on how to use the equipment and to work within the operational and safety management systems of the facility.

Most of our UAS fleet are available for loan, along with the supported sensor equipment, subject to availability and technical status.  Note that the arducopter-based systems (e.g. T680, C-8 and Iris+) are rather more complicated to use and require a little more training than, for example, the commercially available DJI Mavic 2 Pro.

We'll be happy to discuss your needs and help come up with suitable solution.

Our UAS are operated through the facility's UAS Operations (UAS-OPs) department under the umbrella of the our overall Quality System. 

Procedures for UAS operations are laid down in our UAS Operation Manual.