Orbit UAS Solutions - April 2014

The start of 2013 was very interesting for Microdrones users: the MD4-1000 was used for public safety (police) at one of the biggest events in the Southern part of Belgium: “The Carnival of Binche”, an event that has been recognized as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO in 2003. The MD4-1000 was used as 'eye in the sky' for inspection of the environment during the event. Making use of Orbit GIS and public safety software tools, there was direct live communication between the Police CrisisCentre and the MD4-1000 in both directions. This project was unseen in Belgium for public safety: we've proved that the extreme flight time, proved reliability, and matching GIS software tools of this system makes the difference. Have a look at the RTL video below or check the RTBF website.

Since we are supporting (hardware & software) hyperspectral camera's on the MD4-1000 system, the Belgian Army has enclosed the Tetracam ADC Lite (combined with GoPro for livestream) on their system. Using the hyperspectral information, the hotspots of possible minesites are located in the Orbit UAS Mapping Software. A RTBF documentary is coming soon… you will be informed.

Orbit GeoSpatial Technologies is proud to announce the release of its UAS mapping software solution, version 10.9.

“Orbit’s UAS Mapping Software 10.9 adds extra new features to, speed up, and completes its innovative mapping solution by supporting all professional unmanned aerial mapping systems”, says Peter Bonne, VP Business Development and Senior Product Manager at Orbit GT. “The Orbit UAS Mapping Software is a fast, automated, and extensive UAS mapping solution proved to deal with the professional land surveying market. This 10.9 version of the Orbit UAS mapping software covers all postflight requirements to setup and automate highly precise mapping and survey projects of your specific aerial system resulting in ready-to-use quality orthophoto, digital surface model, detailed accuracy reports and stereo maps for 3D viewing and state-of-the-art mapping jobs.”

The UAS Mapping software provides for all generic UAV systems the tools in GIS required for a stereo or line coverage flight and enables the user to postprocess its imagery to a high precision mapping results. Bundled with the powerful Orbit GIS engine, the software enables to visualize the flight plan of your hardware manufacturer or creates a flight plan by defining an area coverage or line inspection project. The software calculates the required waypoints and writes down a full mono or stereo image coverage of your project. The post-processing of the UAS flight data is easily done by calling the postflight part of the 10.9 version. First, the UAS data importer feeds the mapping project with the necessary basic data coming from your flight data. Hereafter an automated triangulation based on several point detection and matching techniques with automated blunder detection successfully complete your bundle block adjustment in no time. The DSM, stereo project, volume calculator and orthophoto are finally made on different scales and allow the professional user to map in the user-friendly 2D or 3D-stereo Orbit GIS environment. A high-detailed accuracy report gives you the keys to prove your UAV quality in the land surveying world. In other words, the complete workflow from flightplan or raw UAV imagery - to orthophoto, dsm, & stereo project - to the final 3D GIS mapping is professionally enhanced from now on by this 10.9 version.

Beyond the mainstream, Orbit UAS Mapping software delivers top quality results for today’s professional unmanned aerial mapping systems.

Please visit our website
Software download (for update 10.9 version) is available at the website downloads. Please ask a new license key for 10.9 version.
All information regarding the software can be found at our knowledge base

For our latest Magazine, go to the Orbit GT October Magazine

(1) mdAcademy Benelux

Be aware to update your flying skills at all time. Especially nowadays in winter times when you have a minimal of possible flight hours, be sure to train and do the necessary flying. If you start flying again after a long time, you can always contact Orbit GT for an update of your flying skills and maintenance of your equipment.

(2) mdSI²

Our microdrones offer an open interface to allow users with special applications to get more access to the microdrones's core. The System Integrator Interface (mdSI²) is intended as a gateway for “intelligent payloads”. Having its roots in the government-funded AirShield project, it is designed to hand over control to on-board embedded computer systems while distributing sensor data at the same time. mdSI² is offered as a commercial option, comparable with the microdrones Waypoint system. Contact Orbit for more information about this product.

(3) mdFlightSim

Key Features:
Full visual and dynamic models of md4-200 & md4-1000
More than 100km² training area with colidable objects, obstacles, buildings, etc.
User-Editable weather conditions
Full autopilot features (GPS position hold)
Several missions with progressive level of difficulty
Possibility to create new missions by placing new objects to track or avoid in the scenario
High-end real-time 3D graphics engine
Interfaced with the actual R/C controller through a PPM/USB interface
Windows 7, Windows 8 compatible
Contact Orbit for more information about this product.




(4) mdCam: Tetracam Mini-MCA

The Mini-MCA 6 is a lightweight, compact version of Tetracam's MCA (Multiple Camera Array). Each Mini-MCA 6 model contains 6 factory-aligned optical blocks. Each optical block consists of a lens/bandpass filter/image sensor combination (see drawing at right). With each exposure 6 separate bands of radiation from the same scene move through the system's optical blocks. Each band forms a separate monochromatic image of the same scene on each block's image sensor. The image on each individual sensor is made up of 1280 x 1024 pixels (1.3 MPel). Each pixel in each image contains 8 or 10 bits of data depending upon the file format selected by the user. The Mini-MCA6 captures 7.8 Megapixels (6 X 1.3 MPel) of image data and passes this to six separate flash memory cards. PixelWrench2 enables merging, viewing and analysis of the images captured at each exposure. Contact Orbit for more information about this product.


(5) mdBlade: 3-blade carbon rotor

For operations in higher elevation.
Factory adjustable blades.
Contact Orbit for more information about this product.


(6) How to deal with RC failure

As you know, your Microdrones system is equipped with a 2.4 GHz RC system, a frequency band that can be used in many ways. The Multiplex Royal Pro 9 M-Link RC-system uses a bi-directional Fast Hopping Spread Spectrum-system. This means that the transmitter can skip (hop) 'randomly' from one channel to another, only remaining on each channel for a fraction of a second. Once the receiver detects a transmission from its paired transmitter, it can guess which channel the transmitter will jump to and maintain the radio link. An FHSS-system is in other words an incredibly difficult target for any interference to hit.

However, this does not mean that loss of RC is totally excluded. The 2.4 GHz band is used by a very wide range of other electronic equipment from wireless internet to microwave ovens. If you fly in an area where this equipment is massively present and used, the FHSS-system can be pushed away and/or interfered. As 2,4 GHz signals behaves like light, this signal can be absorbed or reflected by many parts of the environment. Furthermore, also the effects of distance, shielding and/or multipathing can have the result that the receiver is unable to hear the transmitter clearly enough to extract the send data.
In general, if a receiver receives poor or incorrect signals, the receiver will stop receiving a few milliseconds till it picks up the right signals again. If this takes too long, the receiver will enter to a hold/lock mode and then go to fail-safe mode (if set).

Solution to eliminate the consequences of RC failure:
Despite the performanced RC technology RC-drops or total loss of RC input are not complete excluded. Certainly not when we fly in areas where distortion, interference, shielding, multipathing, signal absorption certainly occur. For example urban areas, major events, transmitting masts, high voltage masts,… It is very important to hedge against the effects of RC-loss during any phase of a flight.

• For manual flights (in DPH or PH-mode) this can be done via the drone operating modes in the mdCockpit configuration settings. The settings must be: RC hold timeout = 30 seconds. This means that if you lose RC the drone will hover for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, the drone will rise to the set 'Safe flight altitude’ (if the RC failure occurs at a greater height the drone remains at this altitude). Then, at the set air speed, the drone returns to the homing position (the homing position is the location where the drone had his first contact with the satellites during start up). Once the homing position is reached, the drone will automatically descend at a rate of 0,5 m / sec until he touches the ground. Once on the ground, the engines will stop (this only if the setting ‘auto switch-off after landing’ is set to enabled and this setting is uploaded to the drone). Now you can safely disconnect the battery.
• If the RC fails during an Orbit UAS Mapping flight the drone will continue the flight and return to the set home position. Once arrived above the home position, the drone will switch from automatic to manual flight mode. The settings that are set in the ‘md Cockpit configuration settings’ are now effective (e.g. 30 seconds hovering, descend, touchdown and stopping the motors). The Orbit UAS Mapping set home position is not necessarily equal to the homing position! The Orbit UAS Mapping home position is set by you during the preparation of the flight plan. As written before the homing position is the location where the drone had his first contact with the satellites during start up. So, if this home position is different from the homing position, keep in mind that the drone should be able to land automatic at the home position. The set home position must be flat and free of any obstruction.
• If the RC fails during a waypoint flight made in mdCockpits waypoint editor the drone will carry out the specific settings made during the flight planning.

Important Remarks

• In the Drone Configuration Settings, the ‘Motors safe off mode’ must be enabled and uploaded to the Drone. If this setting is set as disabled en uploaded, than if the RC fails the motor rpm will be reduced until dwell (the F-slider closes virtually) in the air. Result, the drone will fail and comes down!
• Check at your system if all the discussed security settings are set correctly.
• Adjust if necessary and upload them to the drone.

If you are not sure how things should be done practically, please certainly contact Orbit GT. We like to support you in obtaining a correct and safe use of your valuable equipment.

Newsletter January 2014