References
The Gatewing X100 has already been deployed for more than 15 different applications, ranging from volume calculation in quarries to forest monitoring and archaeology. On this page some customers talk about their experiences with the X100, the applications it serves, and the advantages the system offers for their particular business.
Archaeological mapping
Department of Anthropology and IIRMES
California State University, Long Beach
"The diminutive island that is located in a remote part of the eastern Pacific, Easter Island (Isle de Pasqua or Rapa Nui) has a rich archaeological record. The most famous parts of the record are the colossal multi-ton statues (moai) that line the coast. Less well known and studied are the remains of domestic features, cultivation activities, statue roads, houses and other evidence of cultural activity that are scattered in nearly a continuous distribution across the island's volcanic landscape. Documenting these features of the archaeology of Easter Island has traditionally required costly pedestrian survey. Due to the rocky environment, these kinds of survey are slow and only provide a limited view of the spatial dimensions of prehistoric remains with limited geospatial precision.
This problem is neatly solved with the use of the Gatewing X100 UAS. With its small size and portability, the X100 is able to systematically fly transects across the island at low elevation to provide high resolution imagery of the archaeological record with extraordinary geospatial precision. In our work on the island, we were able to use the X100 to cover thousands of square meters in a few short flights.. These flights produced topographic studies and maps of archaeological material that would take years of work if done on foot. We were greatly impressed with the ease and sophistication of the X100 and look forward to using it to create the first comprehensive geospatial study of the prehistoric landscape of Easter Island."
Forest inventory
Liège University
Departement of forest and nature management
"For forests managers or scientists studying forest ecosystems, data with high temporal and spacial resolution has a primary importance. Forest inventories have always been time consuming and expensive. Thanks to the X100, digital elevation model and orthomosaic of more than 100ha of forest can be produced in one single fl ight. The combination of these aerial informations with terrestrial information can characterize the forest in terms of structure, density, maturity and species composition.
The era of low cost aerial forest inventory has just begun. It offers great opportunities for foresters which must cope with current global changes as biodiversity loss, global warming and increasing demand for timber. The Gatewing X100 opens the door for many possibilities that are now investigated in order to improve the understanding and the description of forest stands. Nowadays, the use of drones in forestry stays a challenge requiring training, knowledge in remote sensing (especially in photogrammetry) as well as experience in forestry sciences. Nevertheless, aerial forest inventories are expected to take more and more importance due to the flexibility and efficiency of rapid terrain mapping tools as the X100 for acquiring valuable information. The following figure illustrates how trees can be automatically detected and caracterised with aerial images."
Quarry and mine site surveying
Surveyor at mining and quarrying company Sibelco
According to Steve Talbot, a surveyor with Sibelco Australia, the company typically utilises contract surveyors to ground survey and aerial survey at a number of its sites around Australia. "At times this expense can be considerable," he said."Because of this, we were looking at finding a cheaper way to survey all our sites; The Gatewing X100 seemed to be - and has in fact turned out to be - a very good and also a safer solution for our needs. The fantastic thing about the Gatewing X100 is that you can use it whenever you want, so I can come out on any day and do an aerial survey - whereas with traditional aerial surveying, they can't fly over the area if there are clouds in the way, and they can only fly at certain times when they are in the area. That means this system is a lot more flexible; I can simply do a flyover of any site I wish to do, whenever I want," said Steve Talbot.
He said another key factor with Gatewing is safety.
"In terms of safety, mine and quarry managers today are really minimising people walking around pits, around machinery and so forth. Using Gatewing minimises the danger of getting hit by a truck or falling over a face, or tripping or falling anywhere in the quarry, so it is a very safe way of surveying."
"Prior to the initial Gatewing survey, we spent a day setting up photo control in and around the site - we wanted to install and coordinate low maintenance, permanent targets to make future surveys quick and easy. You then have to allow about 40-45 minutes of setup time before a flight; you have got to find a landing site and a launching site and then go through the step-by-step process that Gatewing sets out in the manual and checklist."
Steve Talbot said a typical Gatewing flight on one battery over a mine or quarry took 30-40 minutes and you can cover large areas with multiple flights. "For example one of our sites covers two square kilometres, and I'd do about three flights, and you'd probably be looking at about one and a half hours of flight time," he said.
Steve Talbot said the learning process for the system was very straightforward.
"Once we'd bought the system, I went through three to four days of training with Position Partners in Perth, and after that I was very confident about flying the plane," he said. "And the training was great, educational and a lot of fun, hands-on as well, so you are actually getting out in the field and using the Gatewing. Since the training and taking delivery of the system, I've flown about four or five flights; we've only had it for about a month and it's been fantastic: no troubles at all."
Once the aerial survey has been carried out, Steve Talbot uses Gatewing's Stretchout software for in-office processing. Stretchout, which is fully integrated with the Gatewing UAS, delivers georeferenced orthophotos and DTMs with a high degree of accuracy.
"Using Stretchout is a very simple process," he said. "It's just a step-by-step procedure and it is very easy to use, particularly compared with a lot of other surveying software that I have used. The system gives you three options: you can process the data rapidly, which gives you a rough solution; you can do a longer version, where you leave the software running over night and which gives you a very accurate solution, or you can upload it to Gatewing for cloud processing, where you pay per project and the data is processed for you."Check out the video testimonial by Steve Talbot.
"For us, the X100 is a perfect addition to a total station, a GNSS receiver or a scanner. We use it to produce very accurate orthophotos of gravel pits. Also we determine digital terrain models and do volume calculations with it and all this in a very short time. The X100 follows the preprogrammed flight path very precisely. Due to the topography of Switzerland this is very helpful, especially to avoid human errors during the final approach and the landing."
"We have been using the X100 for one season now. This new method has opened new doors in the surveying field. As a remarkable surveying company in Finland we have to serve our customers as well as possible. The product range has to be wide and it is important for us that the customer can order the whole project from us.
The X100 brings efficiency of the projects to a totally new level. Now we are able to execute projects that have been unreachable before. For example some open pits of mines are not possible to measure by the traditional method because the risk of an accident is too high.
We have done projects for mines, soil business, municipal planning and volume calculation. The X100 has been in the air almost the entire season and we expect to execute even more missions during the next season."
Orthophoto processed with PIEneering software / Customer: The City of Ilivieska, Finland / Consult: KPAMK, Ylivieska / Operator: Mitta Oy)