Technology
technology | by Wayne Grayson
WayneGrayson@randallreilly.com
Remote
control
surveying
It might sound like science fiction, but UAVs
are emerging as a versatile surveying tool.
T
Gatewing President Maarten
Vandenbroucke: UAVs offer more accurate
plotting than a ground-based GPS survey.
ypically, when
you hear about
drones or UAVs
(Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles) you think
of the military and the ability
to monitor goings on behind
enemy lines.
And if you’ve ever played
the blockbuster video game
series “Call of Duty,” you’ve
noticed these remote control vehicles that can quickly
give you a bird’s eye view
of where your enemies lie in
wait.
When it comes to surveying, there are no enemies
lying in wait per se, but that
doesn’t mean UAVs can’t be a
huge help in leaning the lay
of the land in question.
And that’s where Gatewing,
a Belgian company acquired
by Trimble in April 2012,
comes in. Gatewing President
Maarten Vandenbroucke,
delivered a session at Trimble
Dimensions 2012 in Las Vegas
last month on the fast and
high-quality survey imaging
UAVs provide.
Vandenbroucke said the
company’s X100 UAV was
created and designed specifically for surveying. While
UAV is still an emerging
technology, it is already
possible to map smaller to
medium-sized areas “in a very
economical way,” he said. An
added benefit to surveying
via remote control is it does
away with the need of walking through potentially dangerous sites, such as landfills
and waste dumps.
He showed off a slide picturing the X100 – which looks
like a cross between a stealth
bomber and the curves of
a toy rocket ship from the
1950s. Vandenbroucke said
the X100 was designed with
sea gulls in mind, and at 2
kilograms, it’s almost as light
as one of the 1.75-kilogram
birds.
The X100 has a cruising
speed of 46 mph and when
facing winds, can achieve
speeds up to 40 mph. Vandenbroucke said the X100
gets about 45 minutes of flyEquipmentWorld.com | December 2012 25