Wingcopter has expanded its operations to include long-range BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) LiDAR surveying solutions, marking a significant shift from its traditional focus on cargo delivery drones. The announcement, made at the GEO WEEK event in Denver, reflects the company's strategic pivot to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the geospatial technology industry.
Based in Weiterstadt, Germany, Wingcopter will equip its flagship drone, the Wingcopter 198, with advanced laser scanning and camera systems. This new technology allows the drone to efficiently and rapidly collect high-quality survey data. The Wingcopter 198 is now positioned to conduct comprehensive inspections and mappings of linear infrastructure, including power lines, pipelines, railways, and roads, over distances of up to 37 miles (60 kilometers) per mission.
The enhanced drone can carry a sensor system weighing up to 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), and during a single 42-minute BVLOS mission, it can survey areas as large as 2,560 acres (10.3 square kilometers). The system can collect up to 570 points per square meter with remarkable sensor accuracy of 10 mm and precision reaching 5 mm—metrics that set it apart from existing solutions on the market.
Ansgar Kadura, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Wingcopter, highlighted the company's dedication to performance and reliability: "After years of developing and relentless testing, we have frozen the Wingcopter 198 in the configuration that is currently undergoing FAA type certification in the United States. The drone has unique payload and range characteristics, and with a proven product lifetime of more than 1,000 flight hours, it is one of the most reliable long-range eVTOL UAS on the market. We are developing a solution to address the field of high-quality LiDAR surveying and integrating the best commercially available sensor systems."
The innovation has drawn strong interest internationally, with significant potential seen in markets such as Brazil. Synerjet, Wingcopter’s authorized partner in Brazil, plans to utilize fleets of these drones to penetrate the surveying market. Augustinho Simoes, Director of Drone Operations and Development at Synerjet, stated: "Together with Wingcopter, we are developing custom applications, adding more functionality to the aircraft and meeting requirements from other industries, such as asset inspections, vegetation monitoring, and mapping."
The first version of the LiDAR-equipped Wingcopter will feature a high-end sensor boasting a wide 100-degree field of view and an impressive pulse repetition rate of up to 2.4 MHz. The emitted measuring beam alternates between three directions—nadir, +10 degrees forward, and -10 degrees backward—resulting in comprehensive data capture, even in complex environments like vertical surfaces, narrow canyons, and forest plantations.
Wingcopter’s move into this new market underscores a broader trend in the drone industry's evolution towards multifunctional applications. By leveraging cutting-edge LiDAR technology, the company aims to empower customers to overcome traditional surveying challenges, especially in hard-to-access areas. As the Wingcopter 198 approaches FAA certification, it promises to offer unparalleled surveying capabilities and pave the way for diverse industrial applications worldwide. This expansion into LiDAR surveying positions Wingcopter to meet the growing demand for precise, high-quality geospatial data, while augmenting its status as a pioneer of innovative drone technologies.
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