SmartPlanes AB Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Aerial Surveying and Mapping
SmartPlanes provide commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), for aerial surveying, remote sensing and surveillance, equipped with high-resolution cameras or other sensors that form an easy-to-use and efficient tool for aerial surveying.
The company’s core products are widely used in prospecting, mine planning, environmental monitoring, and volume measurement of open-pit mines, construction sites, quarries, and dump sites, etc.
SmartPlanes aerial mapping and surveying system
The unmanned aircraft flies automatically over pre-defined areas of interest and takes photos on a regular grid. The resulting high-resolution photos are processed to produce orthophotos and terrain or surface models (DTM/DSM), with very high-accuracy; typically a vertical accuracy of 25mm or better.
Customers will benefit from robustness, cost-efficiency, flexibility, ease-of-use, and up-to-date / real-time information. The solution is utilised by numerous customers and industries worldwide, and proven through thousands of flight missions. SmartPlanes’ solutions focus on enhancing its customers’ productivity by providing reliability, accuracy and performance.
Users can easily be trained to operate the system, and no previous experience is necessary, with either aircraft or aerial surveying.
With our system:
- Aerial surveying and mapping tasks can be done more effectively and economically than with conventional manned aircraft or ground surveys
- The lightweight plane can safely fly over hazardous or inaccessible areas
- Applications for aerial surveys where conventional methods would be impractical, too dangerous or expensive are now possible
- Very precise volume calculations can be performed in a few hours
SmartPlanes is pleased to offer an aerial survey system as a turnkey solution for geospatial data providers and end users. The system is a complete package of custom hardware and software.
With the SmartPlanes system, a single person can safely and easily complete surveying and mapping tasks that would otherwise require advanced planning and special expertise using conventional methods.
Our systems save both time and money, allowing resources to be targeted more effectively. The system has proven its functionality after several years in the field and today, our systems are operated on all continents by different users.
Aerial system specifications
Aircraft:
- Span of 1.2m, shock-resistant, high-strength skin, Lexan fuselage, large adaptable cargo bay
- Take-off weight of 1.2kg, including battery and camera
- Powerful brushless electric motor propulsion
- Telemetry of 868MHz, 900MHz or 2.4GHz (ISM)
Performance:
- Automated linear precision landing and takeoff
- Hand launched
- 200g-600g payload capacity
- Maximum cruise speed of 16m/s, 57km/h
- Normal mission 50 minutes with reserves
- Coverage of 0.1km² to 10km² depending on mission settings
- Recommended -20°C to 40°C, snow or light rain, maximum wind 13m/s, 47km/h
- Auto and Assisted flight modes
Cameras:
- 16.2MP camera with large APS-C CMOS sensor
- 16.2MP Near Infra-Red (NIR) camera
- Nadir (straight down) and optional oblique view
- Resolution depending on flying height, 1.3cm-20cm/pixel
Unmanned aircraft custom design features
Our custom-designed aircraft is:
- Optimised for professional aerial surveying and mapping
- Some of our units are giving reliable service after four years with high levels of rough, daily use in the field
- Aerodynamically efficient, giving it excellent payload capacity, long endurance and good wind resistance compared with other aircraft with similar take-off weight
- The modular design can be upgraded to take advantage of new technology; an elegance and simplicity of design makes it very reliable and easy to repair in the field
- Designed with a large cargo bay that allows for different types of cameras or sensors that can be oriented both vertically and side-looking
- Equipped with an assisted flight mode that enables the pilot to avoid obstacles and perform precision landings within a few meters
Unmanned aircraft safety and legal considerations
SmartPlanes’ systems are designed to operate within existing regulatory frameworks for unmanned aircraft and satisfy permit requirements in most countries.
The system poses minimal risk to bystanders and other aircraft due to its low kinetic energy and mass, plus generous use of shock-absorbing materials in the construction.
Custom solutions for aerial surveying and mapping
We are always looking for new possibilities and application areas. If you have a special requirement that needs a custom solution, please contact us and we can discuss your requirements.
SmartPlanes AB Images
Products and Services
White Papers
A Buyer’s Guide to Fixed-Wing Drones
What you need to know when you are looking to invest in fixed-wing drone technology for your surveying business.
Transform Your Surveying Business using Modern Drone Technology
Aerial Survey Equipment and Modeling Technology for Mining Sites
An iron ore mining site in Kiruna, Northern Sweden, was repeatedly surveyed with a SmartPlanes SmartOne-C aircraft, and a rugged tablet computer used as ground control station.
Accurate and Cost-Efficient Update of DTM with UAS for BIM
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have in recent years become a powerful technique for the generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) of relatively limited areas.
Related Projects
Press Release
Looking at the drone industry today, there is an obvious trend towards multi-rotors being used for increasingly diverse types of workload. We also see how multi-rotors represent a significant share of the market.
Read moreSmartPlanes is to showcase its solutions at Intergeo in Berlin, Germany.
Read moreUnmanned aerial systems (UASs) are catching on and gaining momentum in several industries all over the world. Businesses operating in various sectors such as surveying, forestry, mining and agriculture just to mention a few, have started to realize the substantial value of investing in modern drone technology instead of just continuing down the traditional path.
Read moreUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with remote-sensing devices can be programmed to fly predefined search patterns, and collect various types of images, including thermal, optical or captured from an aerial perspective. Ideally, the data captured is transmitted real-time to a ground control station via telemetry link.
Read moreDrones play an important role at the Swedish mining company LKAB, which is located in Northern Sweden.
Read moreWe are really proud and happy that our fixed-wing UAV Freya did so well during tests conducted by Nasa at Reno. Our partner Carbon Autonomous Systems was instrumental in the success of the tests.
Read moreWith recent technology advancements in small UAS and with reasonable access to affordable sensors, the farmers and researchers of the agriculture industry are starting to adopt UAS technology.
Read moreA year ago, SmartPlanes started discussing what unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights really meant, and what impacts it would have on the industry.
Read moreSmartPlanes is proud to announce that the SmartPlanes Freya UAV is included in the Nasa UAS Traffic Management (UTM) R&D Technical Capability Level 3 (TCL 3) project, at the FAA-designated UAS test site in Nevada. SmartPlanes is represented by its US distributor Carbon Autonomous.
Read moreSmartplanes, a producer of high-end professional drone systems for survey-grade photogrammetric mapping, and Septentrio, a producer of high-performance satellite navigation products will be launching a new post-processing kinematic (PPK) GNSS unit at The Commercial UAV-show in London, UK.
Read moreSmartPlanes has after presentations held with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), received orders for its fixed wing unmanned aerial systems (UAS), Freya, equipped with multiple sensors.
Read moreSmartPlanes will be participating at Intergeo, which is being held in Berlin on 7 - 9 October.
Read more