Sabre Land & Sea Takes Off with Major FARO Scanner Order

10 December 2013 – A major order for FARO laser scanners has been placed by high-definition laser scanning and mobile mapping business, Sabre Land & Sea, in a push to become a leading player in the sector.

Twelve FARO Focus Laser Scanners have been ordered by Sabre Land & Sea, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, which designs and develops advanced 3D-mapping systems for the survey and inspection industry. Systems are created for manned and unmanned deployment platforms and for a wide range of land and sea applications.

Sabre Land & Sea Ltd, founded in 2012, offers the rental and sale of FARO 3D Laser Scanners, SABRE-SCAN, a mobile mapping system; and unmanned platforms. Flexible packages are available to enable customers to trial, rent or buy equipment, especially those new to mapping or wishing to rent short term.

Sabre Land & Sea founder and CEO, Stephen A Ball, says: “Sabre is entering a more operational business phase following two years of intensive R&D for our UAV systems and associated technologies. We have trialed and demonstrated our products and secured our first sales, rental and service support contracts in the UK and overseas.

“We have created a very good working relationship with FARO Technologies and became an ‘authorised dealer’ earlier this year. This arrangement underpins the development of several survey system solutions we have developed to take advantage of innovative and high-quality FARO products.

“The high-line rate of up to 97 lines-per-second and one million points-per-second capability make the FARO products ideal for integration with our airborne Multicopter UAV, called SABRE-UAV, and our rapidly-developing spin-off ‘carpod’, mobile mapping business. Our aim is to create a system which is lightweight, agile, cost- effective and makes surveying easier by reducing survey time.”/more…

Sabre says SABRE-SCAN contains everything necessary to convert a FARO Focus into a mobile or airborne mapping system: SABRE’s integrated advanced GNSS and IMU technology. It is also simple to use, lightweight and waterproof.

Stephen Ball adds: “Those familiar with the FARO Focus, will be even more impressed with the X330 version of SABRE-SCAN Car or SKY-POD, which provides much a longer range (330m with +/- 2mm) in full sun conditions and will be available early in 2014.

Sabre’s electrically-powered heavy-lift, multi-copter survey platform, the SABRE UAV comes in two models SABRE-HL4 a four-engine multi-copter system capable of lifting 2-4 kgs for 35 minutes and the SABRE-HL6, a six-engine multi-copter system capable of lifting 5-6 KGs for more than 35 minutes. Further airborne trials are planned to cater for high-end sensor payloads like the SKY-POD for airborne LiDAR surveys.

Stephen Ball says that SABRE-UAV platforms are specially designed for lifting high end surveying sensors like SKY-POD, thermal imaging cameras, high-end photography cameras, multispectral cameras and more. The system will be capable of surveying areas with reliability, all weather and longer flight durations compared to standard off-the-shelf multi-rotor aircraft. 

The flexibility of the SABRE designs mean that ‘triple-use’ applications, such as Tri-Pod, Car-Pod and Sky-Pod, for the Faro Focus units creates a greater investment return for FARO system owners. In-built flexibility with ‘triple-use’ applications mean that Faro customers can use their existing FARO Focus without the additional cost of buying another unit.

“System versatility is very important during the current financial constraints and tight budgets” adds Stephen Ball. “Exciting opportunities for new and existing FARO users are opened up in the utility inspection market and geospatial mapping to compliment their traditional businesses.

“Our purchase of such a large quantity of Focus units demonstrates our confidence in the future and the products we have developed. Our research and development is paying off and we may well soon be one of the largest users and developers of FARO based surveying systems in the world.”

For more details on the activities of Sabre go to sabre-uav.com

About Sabre Land & Sea
Sabre Land & Sea designs and develops advanced 3D mapping systems for the survey and inspection industry both for unmanned and manned deployment platforms for a wide range of land and sea applications. The company offers the rental and sale of FARO 3D laser scanners, metrology arms, laser trackers, SABRE mobile mapping systems and unmanned platforms.

About FARO
FARO is the world’s most trusted source for 3D measurement, imaging and realization technology. The company develops and markets computer-aided measurement and imaging devices and software. Technology from FARO permits high-precision 3D measurement, imaging and comparison of parts and complex structures within production and quality assurance processes. The devices are used for inspecting components and assemblies, production planning, documenting large volume spaces or structures in 3D, surveying and construction, as well as for investigation and reconstruction of accident sites or crime scenes. Worldwide, approximately 15,000 customers are operating more than 30,000 installations of FARO’s systems. The company’s global headquarters is located in Lake Mary, Fla., its European head office in Stuttgart, Germany and its Asia/Pacific head office in Singapore. FARO has branches in Brazil, Mexico, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Turkey, India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. Further information: http://www.faro.com