miniVUX-3UAV airborne laser scanner

The RIEGL miniVUX-3UAV is a compact airborne laser scanner for uncrewed aircraft, a LiDAR sensor for UAV-based laser scanning that measures distance with laser pulses and records the echoes of each pulse. It is designed to be integrated into multirotor, rotary-wing and fixed-wing UAVs and is used for aerial mapping and survey, producing 3D point clouds of terrain, vegetation and structures.

The scanner has a selectable laser pulse repetition rate of 100, 200 or 300 kHz and a measurement rate of up to 200,000 measurements per second; at the 300 kHz rate it gives up to 100,000 measurements per second over a 120 degree field of view. The scan speed is up to 100 scans per second and the field of view is up to 360 degrees. Accuracy is 15 mm and precision is 10 mm, the two figures an integrator uses to estimate the quality of the point cloud before adding the error of the navigation system. The minimum range is 2 m. Maximum measuring range depends on target reflectivity and pulse rate: at 100 kHz it is 170 m for 20 percent reflectivity, 290 m for 60 percent and 330 m for 80 percent.

Waveform processing allows the sensor to digitise the echo signal and resolve up to 5 targets per laser shot. This multi-target capability is what lets part of the laser energy pass through dense vegetation and reach the ground, and the wavelength is chosen to suit the measurement of snow and ice.

For integration, the scanner has a mass of 1.55 kg in a robust aluminium housing, and it provides mechanical and electrical interfaces for mounting an inertial unit. Data are stored on an easily removable SD card or streamed over LAN with TCP/IP. The manufacturer offers the RiLOC-E and RiLOC-F IMU/GNSS options, which attach to the rear panel, and software packages for acquisition and processing (RiACQUIRE, RiPROCESS and RiUNITE). The laser meets IEC 60825-1 Class 1 and the housing is rated IP64.

Typical applications are agriculture and forestry, glacier and snowfield mapping, archaeology and documentation of cultural heritage, construction-site monitoring and landslide monitoring.