Topcon introduces rotary-wing UAS for Europe

Topcon Positioning Group announces the addition of a rotary-wing unmanned aerial system (UAS) to its mass data collection solutions line for the European marketplace. The Falcon 8 - powered by Ascending Technologies - is designed for inspection and monitoring, as well as survey and mapping applications.

“Rotary-wing systems provide the perfect solutions for small-scale sites and projects for which flexibility of takeoff and landing or an oblique perspective is required,” said Francois Erceau, vice president of the Topcon GeoPositioning Solutions Group in Europe. “The Falcon 8 offers the flexibility to maneuver in small spaces and can cope with challenging environments often presented in inspection and monitoring. It is also well suited for smaller mapping or modeling projects up to 35 hectares that require high-resolution imaging.”

The Falcon 8 features new AscTec®Trinity technology, an autopilot safety feature that provides three levels of redundancy for protection against performance drop or loss of control.  Three IMUs (inertial measurement units) synchronise all sensing data and identify, signal and compensate when needed. 

Two models are available - the GeoEXPERT for surveying, modeling and mapping projects, and InspectionPRO for industrial inspection and monitoring applications.  The GeoEXPERT includes an HD RGB camera payload, while the InspectionPRO features an HD RGB camera and infrared sensor combination. 

“Both versions offer easy deployment and operation with real-time video and data monitoring capability, navigation software for planning and optimising flights, as well as photo-tagging and post-processing desktop software to quickly generate high-quality and easy-to-edit material,” said Erceau.

The Falcon 8 complements the Topcon Sirius Pro a fixed-wing UAS, providing large area accurate mapping without the requirement for traditional ground control.