Riegl and Applanix Take Flight on UAV

Joint solution for hydrographic and topographic survey provides enhanced safety and security in marginal terrain

Horn, Austria and Richmond Hill, Ontario – 18 April 2013 – RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems (www.riegl.com) and Applanix Corporation (www.applanix.com) announced today that the Applanix AP50 GNSS-Inertial sensor system was successfully integrated with RIEGL’s VQ-820-GU topo-bathymetric airborne laser scanner on board the SCHIEBEL Camcopter S-100 UAV. The RIEGL VQ®-820-GU is specifically designed to survey sea beds, the grounds of rivers or lakes and is well suited for combined land and hydrographic airborne survey.
 
The Applanix AP50 GNSS-Inertial system is a GNSS-Inertial sensor plus Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in a compact form factor. It features a high performance precision GNSS receiver and the industry leading Applanix IN-Fusion™ GNSS-Inertial integration technology running on a powerful, dedicated Inertial Engine (IE) board.
 
On board an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the system is uniquely capable of penetrating areas that may be too dangerous for piloted aircraft or ground patrols. This can provide additional safety and security for its users.
 
“We really appreciate the professional and amicable cooperation with Applanix, which allows us to offer user-friendly and powerful, fully integrated solutions for dynamic data acquisition to the marketplace,” said Jürgen Nussbaum, RIEGL Director International Sales.
 
In addition, Applanix will be a Gold sponsor at RIEGL LIDAR 2013, RIEGL’s international user conference taking place in Vienna, Austria, June 25-27.
 
“Working closely with RIEGL, we continue to add value to our client base worldwide,” said Joe Hutton, Director, Airborne Products at Applanix. “As a gold sponsor of RIEGL’s user conference, we’re looking forward to not only interacting with our many partners and customers but also to continue our focus on the future of LIDAR and its many applications.”
 
About RIEGL
With more than 30 years’ experience in the research, development and production of laser rangefinders, distancemeters and scanners, RIEGL delivers proven innovations in 3D. The combination of RIEGL’s state-of-the-art hardware for terrestrial (static), mobile (kinematic), airborne and industrial laser scanning with appropriate, equally innovative RIEGL software packages for data acquisition and processing results in powerful solutions for multiple fields of application.
 
About Applanix
Applanix, a Trimble Company (NASDAQ: TRMB), develops, manufactures, sells and supports products and solutions for mobile mapping and positioning. Applanix’ products and solutions are used in a variety of applications, including road profiling, GIS data acquisition, aerial surveying and mapping, railroad track maintenance and seafloor mapping. Established in 1991, Applanix supports its global customer base with exceptional service.