Headwall Photonics now offers a unique a fully integrated remote sensing solution, combining hyperspectral and LiDAR sensors on a small Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV). Headwall says it has selected the Ekinox-N INS/GPS from SBG Systems because it offers the best combination of performance and features for the weight and price.
Headwall is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance hyperspectral imaging sensors for harsh environments, including mineral exploration projects and active minesites. The company states: “As a pioneer for remote sensing applications, Headwall is the first mover to put to the market a fully integrated remote sensing solution, combining hyperspectral and LiDAR sensors on a small Unmanned Air Vehicle. This ‘total solution’ approach is embraced by the remote-sensing market because it quickens time-to-deployment, decreases implementation costs, and enables operations in harsh environments.”
The UAV is a multi-rotor UAV (four wings with two props per wing). It carries Headwall’s lightweight Micro-Hyperspec VNIR hyperspectral sensor and a Velodyne LiDAR unit. “The LiDAR provides a point cloud that reflects the field’s topographic relief, and the hyperspectral sensor delivers a picture showing spectral signatures of every object within the field of view. These spectral signatures, like ‘fingerprints’, enable material identification. Assembled together, hyperspectral and LiDAR data form a digital elevation model unique to the industry.”
An inertial navigation system with GPS is needed to provide positioning and orientation data. When it came to selecting the best sensor, the Headwall team studied high end inertial navigation systems and opted for the solution from SBG Systems. “We chose the Ekinox-N as it offered the best combination of performance and features for the price,” explains Sam Hill, Optical/Software Engineer at Headwall. The weight was a key factor. The Ekinox-N weighs only 500 g, though it integrates a Survey-grade L1/L2 GNSS sensor to provide accurate positioning and precision roll, pitch, and heading data. “It is lighter than other high-end units in this class, and we are able to offer customers the ability to collect higher-resolution digital elevation models that airborne environmental-monitoring projects like these demand” adds Christopher Van Veen, Marketing Manager at Headwall.
Mounted on the UAV, the Ekinox-N provides LiDAR and the hyperspectral camera’s orientation and position during the whole flight. Data is recorded in real-time at 200 Hz within the onboard computer that records the other sensors’ data as well. On the ground, the Headwall post-processing Hyperspec software fuses all sensor information. “Customers also wish to do orthorectification of their image data during post-processing; this is made possible thanks to the outstanding Ekinox-N accuracy” says Van Veen. Ekinox-N data makes every scanned point and every pixel georeferenced and tilt compensated within a centimetre level accuracy.
