Riegl Announces New Terrestrial and Topo-Hydrographic Scanner at Intergeo

Horn, Austria – September 15, 2015 – On the first day of INTERGEO, RIEGL delivered an impressive display in Stuttgart! With a special UAV-area at booth E4.079, live demo UAV-flights at the outdoor area, and the unveiling of new, advanced products, RIEGL attracted the attention of INTERGEO visitors. 
The main news to come out of INTERGEO is the release of the RIEGL VZ-400i 3D Laser Scanner. It is the evolution of RIEGL’s proven VZ-400 ultra-versatile terrestrial laser scanner; now even better, faster, and more user friendly. The VZ-400i is redefining productivity!
With its advanced processing technology, data acquisition and simultaneous geo-referencing, filtering and analysis become real-time. Cloud Connectivity via Wi-Fi and 4G LTE, MEMS IMU for pose estimation, as well as a high-end camera option and advanced flexibility through support for external peripherals are the basis for an extremely fast, effective and user friendly workflow. The compact and robust housing comes in a new, attractive design. The VZ-400i offers ultra-high speed data acquisition at up to 1.2 MHz Pulse Repetition Rate, an accuracy of survey-grade 5mm and delivers reliable scan data based on RIEGL’s proprietary know-how in laser scanning technology.

The RIEGL VZ-400i is the fastest end-to-end terrestrial scanning system on the market; it sets the benchmark in 3D Laser Scanning, again!
 
After last year’s presentation of the RiCOPTER, the first fully integrated UAV-based LiDAR surveying solution from one manufacturer, RIEGL today proudly showcased its latest development in UAS-based laser scanning: the RIEGL BathyCopter.

The BathyCopter is the world’s first Small-UAV-based surveying system capable of measuring through the water surface, ideally suited for generating profiles of rivers or water reservoirs. The robust and reliable platform design integrates the topo-bathymetric green laser depth-meter, an IMU/GNSS unit with antenna, a control unit and a digital camera.
 
The RIEGL INTERGEO booth 2015 this year comes with a special UAV island with RiCOPTER, Bathycopter, and partner UAVs on display. Swiss Aeroscout is showing the VUX-1UAV in their Scout B1-100 and French Delair-Tech is displaying the VUX-1UAV in their fixed wing, long endurance UAV DT26X demonstrating the versatility of the RIEGL VUX-1UAV LiDAR sensor.
At INTERGEO’s UAV Flight zone the outstanding flight performance of RIEGL’s RiCOPTER will be demonstrated during several demo flights.
 
Additional news from the airborne side: RIEGL announced the introduction of the VQ-880-G Topo-Bathymetric Airborne Laser Scanning System now equipped with an optional infrared channel to supplement the data acquired by the green laser and to further increase data reliability and quality.
 
In addition to all of the new hardware announcements, RIEGL also presented new, exciting software, including the new RIEGL Database (RDB) Format 2.0 offering one Level of Detail (LOD), additional point attributes, metadata information, and SDK for 3rd party support. RIEGL’s software package RiSCAN PRO 2.2 already supports the new RDB 2.0 format for improved visualization and full attribute support! For ALS and MLS the streamlined algorithm of RiWORLD 5.0 processes files 60% faster and when combined with the new RiPROCESS, improves performance by up to 300%!
 
In addition to the comprehensive RIEGL product portfolio itself, RIEGL demonstrates the importance on the cooperation with numerous partner companies related in the surveying and GIS industry. Meet the following renowned companies directly at the RIEGL booth: Airborne Hydro Mapping, MILAN Geoservice, PHOCAD, Aeroscout, and GeoInfo.
 
For more information please visit www.riegl.com .

About RIEGL
The Austrian based firm RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems is a performance leader in research, development and production of terrestrial, industrial, mobile, bathymetric, airborne and UAS-based laser scanning systems. RIEGL’s innovative hard- and software provides powerful solutions for nearly all imaginable fields of application. Worldwide sales, training, support and services are delivered from RIEGL’s Austrian headquarters and its offices in Vienna, Salzburg, and Styria, main offices in the USA, Japan, and in China, and by a worldwide network of representatives covering Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. For more information, visit www.riegl.com.

Dr. Riegl’s Presentation at the RIEGL Intergeo booth, September 15, 2015:

Dear Guests, Partners, and Friends.

Last year, we have invited you to our booth just in the first hours of InterGEO not only to share news on our then latest hardware and software products, but also in order to unveil our own UAV product, the “RiCopter”, a turnkey solution "from one source" for survey-grade UAV laser scanning.

We are displaying this year, again, exciting new products:
In the first place the new VZ 400i terrestrial laser scanning system. This system is the evolution of Riegl’s successful VZ 400, a next generation terrestrial system, measuring three times faster (up to 1200 khz) and also with a higher maximum range of up to 800m. The VZ-400i is much more than a 3D Scanner, it is a complete, integrated scanning system with immense online data processing and online registration capabilities with comprehensive connectivity to the internet and thus to the cloud. its new, innovative and flexible processing archictecture allow for simultaneous data acquisition and data processing such as geo-referencing, filtering, real-time analysis and much more!

The VZ-400i sets the benchmark in productivity; it is the fastest end-to-end terrestrial system on the market.

Please talk to our experts here at Intergeo to learn more about thr new, advanced VZ-400i!
More news from the airborne segment: our high-end Topo-Hydrographic laser scanning system VQ 880-G available now with an additional integrated infrared scanner channel; the complete miniaturized VUX series for UAV based laser scanning, available in three versions now from high-accuracy to long range and a myriad of upgradings and extensions of our software suites.

But me let come back please to the RiCopter introduced last year. It has found, in the meantime, a literally unbelievable attention and interest worldwide. First units are already delivered, and series production is successfully started.

The countless inquiries and sales leads received around the RiCopter and the miniaturized VUX scanners clearly indicate an unexpected demand : prospective customers do not only want a UAV equipped with a “conventional” laser scanner like the VUX for topography, but they also are looking eagerly for a Small-UAV-based solution for bathymetry. The applications we have heard of are manifold : not, of course, wide area bathymetry, surveying of long shortlines, riverstreams, and so on, for what we are offering our large and powerful bathymery systems like the VQ 880 but – on a much smaller scale – generation of river profiles; survey of water reservoirs; canal surveying; survey for hydraulic engineering work; and others

At first sight, even we, irrespective of our " inherent innovative impetus " – if you allow me so say again what I have formulated earlier at one of our user meetings – even we have been sceptical about the chances to fulfil this request from the market for a Small-UAV based laser bathymetric system.

But we have found a solution : we are using the RiCopter not only as a flying platform, but also as means for step-by-step mapping, carrying a newly developed high performance depthfinder, comprising a Class 2 green laser, internal echo-signal digitization and waveform processing, and of course the required INS/GNSS system. Look at the picture : the maeander – like flying path over, for instance, a river, and the measured dots as indicated in the next drawing.

That is done with an equipment we are calling the new RIEGL "BathyCopter” – as to our knowledge the first of its kind worldwide.

And, indeed, it works. Please have a look at the preliminary key features an, of course, the video of the first test flights

What you see here is not yet a finished product, but first a “proof of concept” . Let us show and explain, in private discussions, the expected performance data and key features, and then let us have your comments and inputs, in order to further develop this Bathycopter straightforwardly into a market-ready product, worth to wear the name RIEGL.

I thank you again for coming and for you attention, and enjoy the days at InterGeo.