Quantum-Systems and MicaSense’s latest cooperation brings the Dual Camera System to the Trinity F90+ fixed-wing UAV as a payload option, completing the available portfolio of camera payloads for professional users of Quantum-Systems drones.

Released in late 2019, the Trinity F90+ mapping drone combines PPK with the advantages of an eVTOL fixed-wing UAV with a flight time of more than 90 minutes and long-range telemetry. Whether in the agricultural sector, in the mining business or when inspecting industrial plants and construction progress, Quantum-Systems claims more data can be recorded in a very short time than it was previously possible with conventional systems.

“Our passion is the continuous development of industry-leading VTOL aircraft,” Quantum-Systems CEO Florian Seibel said. “With our ready to operate systems we serve a wide range of customers. We help to increase yields in agriculture, fly 3D reconstruction missions, do tactical mapping for security forces or provide mission-critical video footage in real-time to governmental users.”

Well-known as a developer of drone sensors for precision agriculture, MicaSense released the Dual Camera System in late 2019 to ease drone sensor integration challenges on the farm and enable advanced remote sensing and vegetation research applications. By combining MicaSense’s RedEdge-MX and RedEdge-MX Blue sensors, the Dual Camera System captures double the amount of spectral bands from previous products, and captures the same bands as Landsat 8 and Sentinel satellites, enabling direct data comparison between satellite and drone data.

“While all of our sensors produce repeatable outputs with optimized GSD, the additional spectral information captured by the Dual Camera System makes it especially suited for AI/Machine Learning workflows,“ said Justin McAllister, CTO of MicaSense. “Now, integrated with the Trinity F90+, the combined solution offers customers the utmost capability in plant canopy analysis and classification tasks over large areas.“

Furthermore, Quantum-Systems‘ PPK solution will support the Dual Camera System, removing the need to deal with third-party solutions and saving time and money. The PPK solution features the entry-level GNSS reference station iBase that automatically logs GNSS reference measurements on the ground to a file on a micro SD card.

Available in May 2020 through Quantum-Systems partners around the world, this is the first time the Dual Camera System integrates with a small fixed-wing UAV, opening new possibilities in terms of range and saving time through a completely integrated PPK process. So previous Trinity F90+ owners have access to the Dual Camera System, Quantum-Systems made sure the drone doesn’t require any technical changes to fit it. The company’s QBase 3D mission planning software will receive an update at launch to support this new payload.