Forum

Author Topic: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?  (Read 20446 times)

nadar

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 130
    • View Profile
Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« on: February 09, 2017, 09:09:38 PM »
I'm currently writing a report to justify the use of photogrammetry vs Lidar survey. I can't find a reference of how much an airborne LiDAR system to be installed in a dedicated aircraft costs:

- Lidar + recording system, software etc.
- combined RGB camera
- inertial station
- dGPS

Quite surprisingly, I can't find this info on Internet, on providers websites, etc. Only cost / Ha are available, not the cost of the equipment
I have in mind, based on a market analysis done a few years ago, that the entry ticket was about 1 million US$
I guess the prices are quite lower now.
Does anybody have a recent estimate (including reference, if possible).
(I'm not talking about low-precision system to be installed on UAV, but on high performance systems).
Thanks for your help.

Dave Martin

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2017, 12:36:26 AM »
Nadar,

I can't help with prices either, but in case it helps with your research, as an example of what's in use our area was flown by a commercial contractor using an "IGI LiteMapper 6800" LiDAR scanner (Riegl sensor) with a "Digicam H60" RGB camera (flown in a Cessna 206). LiDAR PRF was 300 kHz, min 4 LiDAR points / sq metre (although there were often many more); RGB photo GSD 8 cm (50mm lens).

Also, you mention dGPS but I wonder if it would have to be RTK?

Dave
« Last Edit: February 10, 2017, 12:45:56 AM by Dave Martin »

JMR

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 502
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2017, 12:44:50 AM »
Do not expect much lower prices in high performance airborne LiDAR systems as their specs have been increased during last years. higher pulses per second, multipulse, multicamera, full wave form recording, multispectral... perhaps only the new uav-oriented systems are "cheap" in comparison and I guess the 1 milion could still be the entry point for the big brands (Riegl, Optech, Leica)

RobAus

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2017, 03:34:44 AM »
You havent detailed what you are trying to achieve with photogrammetry, but I can only assume its perhaps a DMS/DTM/DEM?

For a medium altitude system for wide area mapping you would be looking at approx 700k EURO for a complete unit (Sensor, IMU, data recorder, licenses and software)




GPC

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
    • Geopro
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2017, 05:49:33 AM »
NewTech Services may be able to help you price a used system, see their site here:

http://www.nts-info.com/mapping-equipment/lidar-system/

Tony is an amazingly knowledgeable resource.
When things get weird, the weird turn pro.

tweezlednutball

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 33
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2017, 07:01:56 AM »
ive scanned most of the major cities in the world using photoscan  ;D

GPC

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
    • Geopro
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2017, 11:44:21 PM »
ive scanned most of the major cities in the world using photoscan  ;D

"Scan" implies an active active sensing method, which is not an accurate term for photography. You computed a statistics based pixel matching model for those cities, you did not scan them.
When things get weird, the weird turn pro.

tweezlednutball

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 33
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2017, 08:40:44 AM »
ive scanned most of the major cities in the world using photoscan  ;D

"Scan" implies an active active sensing method, which is not an accurate term for photography. You computed a statistics based pixel matching model for those cities, you did not scan them.

Whatever you want to call it, if you know what you are doing the results can be amazing and guaranteed to be far less expensive.   ::)

Packy_GIS

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 107
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2017, 12:05:23 AM »
The price of the RIEGL VUX-1HA (with all the reuqired accesories) is about 300 000€
Packy

j3lomahan

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2017, 08:35:36 PM »
LiDAR and Photogrammetry complement each other. If you need a quick contour map of a forested area, it is most likely that you will go with LiDAR flight. My experience is using Riegl LiDAR. Their latest Topo LiDAR unit hovers around US$1.3Mil.

We offer LiDAR flying services using Riegl 680i. Great unit!

Jeremiah_ROWE

  • Guest
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2017, 10:30:41 PM »
What sort of ground control do you use for your "massive scans" haha

Well it appears Agisoft has been come big enough to attract internet trolls... cheers!

ive scanned most of the major cities in the world using photoscan  ;D

"Scan" implies an active active sensing method, which is not an accurate term for photography. You computed a statistics based pixel matching model for those cities, you did not scan them.

Whatever you want to call it, if you know what you are doing the results can be amazing and guaranteed to be far less expensive.   ::)

MisterGosu

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2017, 02:22:27 AM »
Hi all!
I received great help in this forum so far and might give back a bit at this point.

First - The 'entry ticket' is way lower than you think. Here some insights:

Phoenix Aerial Systems offers a solution which comes for about 125.000 $ (LIDAR, drone, gps equipment, training, etc.). It looks pretty descent in my opinion.
https://www.phoenixlidar.com/

Velodyne offers different LIDAR sensors usable with drones for good prices. The Puck comes for about 8000 $ if I remember right.
http://velodynelidar.com/

Quanergy claim to have the lowest cost 3D mechanical LIDAR in the world 'M8'. It comes for 7000 $. 200m range, 360 degree FOV and 440k data points/second.
http://quanergy.com/

The solutions from YellowScan (France) are around 100.000 - 300.000 $.

All numbers are from quotes I´ve seen or interviews I had. But they should give a rough direction.

All the best,

Jakob

menco

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Cost of airborne LiDAR ?
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2017, 07:28:25 PM »
Has anyone got a handle on the cost of Riegl LD90-3 HS units?