UAV Airborne Laser Scanning with Velodyne VLP-16

First experiment with the Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR ‘Puck’ mounted on a brushless gimbal on a Devourer X8 heavy-lift multi-rotor UAV.

The sensor mount also includes the Advanced Navigation Spatial DUAL GPS/IMU unit and a machine vision camera. This was a first trial of the laser scanner over a small pine stand near South Arm in southern Tasmania, Australia. This project is part of the TerraLuma research group at the University of Tasmania, supported by Supported by the Department of Primary
Industries (DPI) New South Wales and the Forest
and Wood Products Australia Limited (FWPA).

Credits:
Project manager: Dr Arko Lucieer
Engineering: Richard Ballard
Coding: Steve Harwin and Dr Luke Wallace
UAS pilot: Dr Darren Turner