Originally developed for helicopter landings in brownout conditions, the OPAL™ LiDAR scanners are designed to perform in extreme physical environments and to penetrate through obscurants such as dust, rain, fog, and smoke.
Mounted on an airframe, OPAL™ LiDAR provides a 3D map of the surrounding environment to aid in manned and unmanned operations. Even in near zero-visibility, obstacles on the ground as well as overhead wires are accurately rendered to ensure safe landings and flight navigation.
Our OPAL™ LiDAR sensors provide improved perception of landing conditions during both take-off and landing. With higher resolution scanning, OPAL™ can provide better situational awareness to pilots landing in adverse conditions. LiDAR can detect small obstacles in the landing area and render a more thorough representation of the terrain. OPAL™ LiDAR provides a number of unique and important capabilities that autonomous aircraft will require to safely navigate and land autonomously. LiDAR systems can also be used to map terrain, infrastructure and navigational aids, as a by-product of their use in autonomous systems.
As Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) become increasingly more present and begin to be deployed in commercial airspace, Detect and Avoid systems need to be employed to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft. OPAL™ LiDAR is an excellent solution to assist with DAA due to its long range (>1000 m) and high resolution data. A UAS will not only be able to use OPAL™ LiDAR to avoid obstacles, but also map terrain, assist in route planning, and inspect the landing zone. OPAL™ LiDAR sensors play an important role in enabling autonomous solutions.