Scientists Developing Drone-Carried Lidar for Nautical Charting

摘要

Today, when scientists map the ocean floor, they use large, heavy bathymet-ric lidar carried by manned aircraft to capture data, which is then processed after the fact. A group of Georgia Tech Research Institute scientists believe they can speed up the mapping process with a miniaturized lidar system currently undergoing testing, said Grady Tuell, principle research scientist for the project. Georgia Tech has developed a 250-pound lidar system capable of transmitting data in real time and that can be carried by a medium-sized unmanned aircraft such as the MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter, he said. Most existing systems weigh upwards of 600 pounds.