VIDEO: Affordable Drone Aircraft for Mapping Landfill Void
Following modifications to its unmanned autonomous drone for scanning landfill sites and calculating available volumes, Lehmann Aviation has cut the cost of its LA300 aircraft to under €4000. Launched in 2013, the company explained that the original Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was a fully automatic personal drone working with a Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone and any Windows 8 Tablet for flight preparation and mission control, and designed for mapping and Digital Elevation Modelling (DEM). However, Lehmann said that last month it performed successful flight-tests that proved compatibility of the GoPro Hero3+ camera (in addition to the original Nokia Lumia 1020 41Mp camera) with the LA300 for creating a coordinate-positioned set of aerial photos known as an orthomosaic, as well as DEM. According to the company, the LA300 helps to calculate the volume of a landfill site from the air, offering an alternative to on-the-ground measurements which take longer and are much less precise. To make use the UAV the operator must first download the free Lehmann Aviation software - OperationCenter - to any Windows 8 Tablet, Windows Phone 8 or PC. A flight path can then be drawn on a touchscreen Windows 8 device over the area of interest on the map and waypoints can be entered. The software will then automatically generate the mission. Following the initial setup the mission data is transmitted to the drone by WI-FI and the vehicle is launched by hand and executes its mission automatically. Once complete the operator uses OperationCenter to GeoTag each image after the flight with LAT/LONG/ALT/YAW/PITCH/ROLL information. The company explained that the pictures then can be processed in the most popular orthomosaic/DEM software to generate professional orthomosaics and 3D models. The drone flies at a range of up to 15 km, at speeds of 20-80 km/h and according to the manufacturer can also be flown in harsh environments, between -25 °C up to +60 °C (-13 °F up to 140 °F), with winds up to 35 km/h (20kt). The LA300 weights 950 grams (including Nokia Lumia 1020 or GoPro Hero3+ camera), with a wingspan of 92 cm and the length of 45 cm. It is launched by hand and is said to be capable of landing in just few metres. A video detailing the process and inflight footage can be seen below. [youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es3W5yOIp_Y| Read More Huge 17.3 MW Landfill Gas to Energy Project Opened by Veolia in France French waste management Firm, Véolia Propreté has inaugurated a 17.3 MW landfill gas to energy facility in Plessis-Gassot, France - the largest in the country. VIDEO: Research Progresses on Bioplastics from Pulp Waste in UK A research project led by Biome Bioplastics has demonstrated the feasibility of extracting organic chemicals from lignin found in pulp waste for the manufacture of bioplastics. Hazardous Waste Landfill Cleared for Expansion in California The California Enivronmental Protection Agency’s Department of Toxic Substances Control has finalised a permit modification for the Kettleman Hills hazardous waste facility.]