DJI - Matrice 350 RTK

Just had to get out of the matrice350 and into a Freefly Astro for all of our lidar and mapping. More and more engineers are wanting the Blue listed drones. If anyones in the market for a matrice 350 with 5 sets of batteries let me know😂

DJI Matric 350 RTK and Zenmus L2 Lidar is about the only thing I know of in that price range. It is a great system. As a land surveyor, it is very quick easy to get usable data. The problem I have with this setup is the absolute accuracy. I would not trust it for important grades. Topo in the woods, sure. Curb or wall elevations that will be used for tie in/design... it just isn't tight enough. It is a hell of a tool for the price and is a good way to show the people at the top how accessible lidar can be now. But you'll probably need to double your budget for a true "survey grade" setup and the training time and investment needed to extract data gets more complicated.

I recommend using the zenmuse P1 for photogrammetry to pick up physical features in open areas and the lidar unit for more dense vegetation topography. We run the Matrice 350 RTK with both and the P1 is excellent.

Gotcha. I was responding to the 10-60km2 in the original post. For areas that are only 2km2, yes drone is very viable. Fixed wing like Wingtra or Quantum are good options. Honestly for that size area, I’d seriously consider DJI M350 with the P1 camera, especially if getting data on the sides of buildings is important. I’d personally stay away from eBee as they are older, sub par in terms of sensors/cameras, and just kind of a PITA to work with.

You could spend a little more and go M350 and Phoenix Recon XT. This also gives you the options to collect on a vehicle also. Been using for awhile and have good consistent results.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Sony Airpeak and its LiDAR partner, Resipi. They actually manufacture units for various other LiDAR hardware suppliers and have the best IMUs in the game. I could go into detail about the benefits, but being that you are in Japan, it makes sense to me that you use a Japanese aircraft. I wish that any of the US brands were half as good as the Airpeak, or 1/4 as good as an M350. DM me if you have questions about any hardware, I've got a ton of experience with most hardware brands and aircrafts. Unfortunately, there are a lot of companies out there that will take a significant chunk of $ and deliver a product that hasn't changed much in the last 3-5 years, and isn't worth the premiums they'll charge you for.

OP, if only looking for 5 cm accuracy/precision, I’d strongly encourage checking out the L2 carried on a DJI M350 (assuming Japan doesn’t have a lot of anti-Chinese tech regs like we do in the US). Here in the US you’re always out the door for <$40k for a complete drone + sensor + additional software tools past DJI Terra (which is free to use to produce the initial LAS files after capture) If you need a non-Chinese sensor, the just announced EchoONE from Teledyne will list for about $60k USD here in the states, with some incredible specs. Much like some of the Riegl sensors others mentioned (arguably better in some respects) and lightweight enough to be carried by normal medium lift quadcopters, like M300/M350, Freefly Astro, WISPR SkyScout, etc. The L2 can’t be beat for the money, and there’s no better tool to begin your UAV lidar journey. Perspective as a US-based geospatial equipment supplier who sells a lot of DJI and other mapping drone brands. Good luck out there. The tech keeps getting better and cheaper and more accessible, but like others suggested, find a local partner who can guide you through the selection process and offer ongoing training and support.

we just got a Matrice 350 with an L2 sensor. its pretty sick