Leica Geosystems has announced an upgrade to its Chiroptera topo-bathymetric lidar and HawkEye deep bathymetric lidar that increases the density of points by four times. Leica will make the upgrades available to all current users of the Chiroptera II and HawkEye III systems. The upgrades will also be included in the new Chiroptera 4X and HawkEye 4X bathy lidar systems and other bathy systems from Leica in the future.
According to the company, typical end user specifications for bathymetric surveys require two to four points per square meter, which often means multiple passes with the system. The 4X series of bathy lidar can gather this density in a single pass, with the Chiroptera gathering more than 5 points per square meter, and the HawkEye gathering the same density at shallow survey depths. This makes a clear case for quick ROI: the upgrade can save up to half on flight costs.
Leica also claims depth penetration improvement of up to 10% without affecting accuracy or performance in turbid water capture.
As Tim Webster, a research scientist in the Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS), Nova Scotia Community College explained in an official statement, “the four times increased resolution dramatically improves our ability to detect objects, even on the scale of features 1 meter by 1 meter, where the increased number of points can be used to further clarify the objects location and details.”
During validation, he said, the team has “also detected new seabed features not discovered from previous bathy lidar surveys in the same area.”
For more information, including price, in-depth specifications, and system configuration, see Leica Geosystems’ website and contact the vendor directly.