Propelling: Integrating Drone-Based LiDAR Into Your Business

LiDAR as an applicable technology has found its stride, and the demand for new uses continues to grow. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global airborne LiDAR market alone is set to grow at a double-digit rate over five years, hitting a market value of $673 million USD by 2025.

Irene Jimenez, Southern Europe Sales Manager at Microdrones, joined host Tyler Kern on this episode of Propelling to talk about integrating drone-based LiDAR, its applications and advantages. The application of LiDAR is known in many different fields such as construction, energy, rail, and mining, but the industry is growing with new possibilities available through drone-based LiDAR.

Jimenez said that drone-based LiDAR is capable of regular applications of surveying, but drone-based allows Microdrones to cut down the time it takes to capture and process data. She said that recently in France, a power company needed to scan a hydro-electric dam and by using Microdrones’ drone-based LiDAR, what would have taken a crew weeks to scan, the drone completed in 110 minutes. She said that the data captured at the site only took 30 minutes to process, and if done in the traditional sense could have taken 10 to 12 hours.

The obvious advantage to using drone-based LiDAR is access to difficult places, but it and Microdrones can offer other advantages too. Jimenez said that drones allow them to have a significantly lower cost compared to other aerial LiDAR systems.

Microdrones’ has been in the market for 10 years and has “the best solutions for users” said Jimenez. She also said that they “own the full process of products,” from capturing to processing data. This allows them to be “one point of contact” and relieve the traditional hassle of going through and waiting on the different channels.