senseFly releases swarm technology for mapping

Ecublens, Switzerland – : The vision of multiple drones mapping remote areas autonomously is no longer science fiction. The most advanced version of senseFly’s ground control software puts years of research into the user’s hands.

The technology behind senseFly’s multiple drone operation system first emerged in 2010 at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, EPFL (http://lis.epfl.ch/smavs) when a team of robotic researchers showcased the first outdoor aerial collective system involving up to 10 robots flying together. This technology was then adapted by senseFly’s R&D team and first sucessfully demonstrated last June at the Paris Air Show when two eBees mapped Le Bourget

www.youtube.com/embed/IreErPZXotk

It is now fully integrated in senseFly’s ground control software eMotion 2. Operators can use a single interface to control multiple drones which allows greater areas to be covered in less time. These drones

have automated in-flight collision avoidance and will share start and landing waypoints while coordinating their altitudes.

Other new and exciting enhancements in our system include:
– 3D flight planning. Constant over ground distance on steep terrain minimizes the image pixel resolution variation, thus providing better image quality & results.
– Google Earth visualization. The ability to check a flight plan within a 3D environment increases the safety of the operation.
– Flight data management. Review previous flights, find flight logs and corresponding images, create geotags and transfer projects for automatic image reconstruction.
– 3D viewer and editor for image processing. Provides the ability to view and edit in a unique 3D environment in order to improve processing results.
– Optional Canon S110. Great lens, user access to RAW files, manual setting of exposure parameters.