A complete georeferencing solution for the French national mapping fleet
iXSea, an iXBlue company, has installed and commissioned complete georeferencing systems for all of the aircraft operated by the Institut Géographique National (IGN), France’s national authority for reference geographic information. The project work scope included providing AIRINS inertial navigation systems, a flight management system, an interface with a gyro-stabilized platform, data logging and processing and all equipment installation, cabling and commissioning.
IGN’s main objective is to establish and maintain national reference geographic databases. When the organization was seeking to accelerate database production, it selected the AIRINS high-grade IMU/GPS designed by iXSea. The system is based on 0.01°/hr FOG gyroscopes and will integrate with any kind of GPS and any type of camera or lidar. In contrast to most of the other systems currently available, the high-performance inertial sensor in AIRINS virtually eliminates drift during long straight survey legs.
The new system enables IGN to increase the speed of database production without introducing major changes to the existing workflow. The addition of AIRINS enables faster georeferencing of data; IGN will now be able to renew its aerial-photo coverage of the country every three years instead of every five years.
A further benefit for IGN is that having the same equipment configuration in each plane improves operational convenience and interoperability because systems can easily be swapped between planes if needed.
This fast-track project presented many challenges and included non-standard features such as specific interfacing with purpose-built, multi-head cameras designed by IGN and providing a tailored flight management system. These unique features, and the system into which they have been integrated, were validated through a series of test flights over the Paris region.
"This is a significant project with airborne digital cameras and is a milestone for us," said Victor Rumoroso, Project Manager, iXSea. "This experience supplements that which we acquired during several airborne lidar integration projects earlier this year."