Songbird for Accident Reconstruction Mapping

This year the German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have chosen the Songbird 150 High-Precision Mapping Series to support general aviation safety in investigating aircraft accidents.

In order to gain the trust of the Bundeswehr, the technology must meet defined standards and be able to operate even under adverse conditions. Some of the customers’ specific requirements with regard to the UAV under consideration are:

  • Easy to operate and fast deployment in field conditions
  • Automatic and intuitive flight planning
  • Rapid coverage of large territories
  • High precision data acquisition
  • Additional oblique images for a more precise overview and documentation
  • Operated BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight)

The Songbird 150 High-Precision Mapping series was created to meet these requirements. 

The Songbird 150 was designed for longer-lasting flights and flights over larger distances. At the same time, its aerodynamic parameters allow carrying heavy payloads and high-precision equipment. It offers the luxury of being able to focus on data quality and precision rather than drone operation

 

Songbird 150 Surveillance edition

 

In the box


The Songbird 150 High-precision mapping series includes everything, i.e. hardware, software, and training needed to start mapping projects as quickly as possible. All available options of the Songbird 150 High-precision mapping series are given here. For this particular Bundeswehr-project, the following configuration of the Songbird 150 was chosen:

Songbird 150 High-precision mapping series

Hardware

  • Songbird 150
  • Dual camera (Nadir and Oblique)
  • GNSS by Trimble  Applanix APX20
  • Spare parts (wings, nose, motor arms, tool set etc.)

Software

  • PosPack by Trimble applanix
  • Agisoft Metashape

Services

  • Pilot training
  • Data processing training


Songbird 150 Surveillance edition

 

Specific features

 

Germandrones knows that its customers demand reliable airborne mapping solutions. Survey experts evaluate the system reliability according to two aspects: accurate external camera alignment parameters and reliable internal camera parameters. 

GNSS and IMU play a vital role in the acquisition of external camera orientation parameters since they identify both the camera position and alignment during the flight. To reach survey grade accuracy,  a high-performance GNSS-inertial solution with two IMUs powered by Trimble APX-20 UAV was used. This solution helps to achieve the best possible accuracy as it compensates for the speed of the fixed-wing UAV. APX-20 UAV fixes and records not only the camera release but additionally the real-time event. This technology thus corrects any post-processing error caused by the UAV-speed. Moreover, the Applanix technology disposes of a dual IMU which can be involved in the calculation of possible shifts between camera and GNSS. This feature helps to maintain an accurate image centre position during the flight in order to achieve the best accuracy output.

 

Songbird 150 Surveillance edition

 

To provide the solution with reliable internal orientation parameters, the camera and lenses are of utmost importance. The Bundeswehr needed to be able to receive images for photogrammetry mapping and oblique images in order to get a better overview of air crash situations from different angles, all during a single flight. As a result, a set consisting of two cameras (Nadir and Oblique), Sony Alpha 7 and Loxia lenses by Zeiss was chosen. For the Nadir camera mostly used for photogrammetry processing, a lens with 21mm focal length was selected to ensure sufficient area coverage. For a detailed overview, an operational angle of 35 degrees and a lens with 35mm focal length was selected for the Oblique camera.

This camera system in combination with the IMU-system APX-20 UAV provides reliable accuracy and great performance in harsh environments.

 

Performance

 

Songbird 150 Surveillance edition

 

To estimate the efficiency and to calculate the nominal time for the operation with this set-up, the Germandrones team ran various tests. As a result of these tests it was concluded that a 500ha-territory can be surveyed during one flight within 90 minutes. The spatial resolution of the provided material was 2.27 sm/pixel; the accuracy was up to 3 cm.

The result provided by the system:

  • Orthomosaic
  • Point Cloud
  • Triangle mesh

 

Songbird 150 Surveillance edition

Germandrones carried out a complex training for Bundeswehr pilots, since our pilots are certified and highly experienced in BVLOS flights and data processing

 

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