Applications and Uses for LiDAR Flights
Discover how LiDAR flights revolutionize industries with high-precision data for mapping, surveying, agriculture, and environmental monitoring.
The use of laser scans for the documentation of spaces effectively has significantly developed at the end of the 90s with the entry of more portable equipment such as the CYRAX 2400. Later the industry leaped in 2010 with the introduction of the Leica ScanStation C10 and in 2011 with the market introduction of the FARO Focus3D model, which democratizes the use of scanners by offering greater portability at a very affordable price.
3D laser scanning has applications in different industries, such as construction and manufacturing. Projects with a laser scanner allow us to offer clients accurate and high-speed data.
Usually, people need to learn how a device like this works and even learning how a 3D laser works and its capacity for measurement and surveying would not be feasible. To know which 3D laser scanner, we must see the object's or space's dimensions to be captured and adequately use the captured images.
For many years terrestrial laser scanners dominated the market due to their accuracy and portability with brands such as Leica, FARO, and Trimble, as mobile scanning did not offer the portability or accuracy required to generate a reliable point cloud. Next, learn how these devices' rays deployed at the speed of light can help make the job easier. Learn more on our blog: Top 5 terrestrial laser scanners of 2022
In recent years, thanks to software advances and refinements of SLAM algorithms, as well as the integration of smaller sensors into portable equipment, mobile scanning evens its chances of being an accurate and fast option.
SLAM, or Simultaneous localization and mapping, is the technology based on computational geometry and computer vision used for mapping the environment through a laser tracking its location concerning the mapped environment typically used in autonomous vehicle navigation.
Although the quality of the sensors and their precision have greatly improved, progress in software issues is what has been essential to offer precise mobile scanning solutions. Although the sensors can continue to improve in terms of dimensions and portability, their cost/benefit ratio concerning precision increases marginally compared to advances in registration algorithms in the assembly of point clouds. In short, future advances in software will be more significant than in hardware for mobile and terrestrial scanners.