Mapping the Rocky Mountain Foothills with the Helicopter-Mounted RANGER Series

The RANGER-XL provided service provider, SkySkopes with an advanced mapping solution that could be adaptable to unmanned aircraft, rotorcraft, and fixed wing platforms.

Challenge

SkySkopes is a professional service provider with highly qualified operations and a geospatial team. They operate a wide variety of advanced sensors and aircraft for transmission and distribution line inspections, oil and gas applications, and many other innovative use cases that focus on adding value. The challenge was finding a solution that could be adaptable to unmanned aircraft, rotorcraft, and fixed-wing platforms.

Caption: RANGER-XL mounted on a helicopter

Solution

One of the benefits of Phoenix LiDAR systems is the ability to use the same sensor on multiple platforms. With the purchase of the RANGER-XL system, Skyskopes could bid on fixed-wing, rotorcraft, and UAV-based projects.

Application

SkySkopes completed a wide-area mapping pre-construction survey in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a scope of 12,000 acres. Taking the size of the project into consideration, as well as the complex and challenging mountainous terrain, their team selected a Bell 407 helicopter with a RANGER-XL. The RANGER-XL’s long-ranging capability allowed the team to safely and efficiently collect data at 1,200ft above the ground, flying at a ground speed of 60 knots, all while meeting and exceeding the project’s point density requirement of 30 points per square meter.

Pre-construction survey in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains

Parameters

Site: 12,000-acre pre-construction survey in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains
Solution: RANGER XL + Bell 407 Helicopter
AGL: 1200ft
Ground Speed: 60 knots
Point Density: 30 points per square meter
Time: 5 hours

Benefits

• Ability to fly high and fast, without sacrificing point density
• Efficiently collects high precision, high accuracy data
• Adaptable to a wide variety of vehicle platforms
• Turn-Key operation

Results

The SkySkopes team has reliably bid on and won numerous projects based on the capabilities of their RANGER-XL LiDAR system. Utilizing the RANGER-XL solution in a variety of project types and industries allowed for a faster return on investment. Leveraging the ranging capabilities of the RANGER-XL combined with the endurance of the Bell 407, enables their team to safely, efficiently, and reliably map large areas while penetrating dense foliage.

Survey output becomes a reliable map