Capturing Vertical Structures Through 3D Laser Scanning Services

Skydio announced the imminent release of 3D Tower Capture, the company’s latest autonomous capture mode for its Skydio 3D laser scanning services. 

Skydio 3D Scan leverages powerful artificial intelligence to autonomously fly a drone within and around a building, capturing a full photoset of every surface required to produce highly detailed digital twins faster and with better accuracy than even the most experienced pilot. 3D laser scanning services have entered our world, and many businesses like Skydio are focused on creating the best versions for others to use. 

Numerous enhancements have been made to the new 3D Tower Capture mode to increase the speed and efficiency of scanning vertically shaped objects – starting with telco towers. This simplified approach conserves battery life and simplifies and speeds up the scan setup process. 3D laser scanning services have changed how we capture images, data, measurements, and other information necessary to create a 3D image.

How Skydio’s 3D Laser Scanning Services Work

3D Tower Capture optimizes by defaulting to a flight path that begins at the top or bottom of the tower and spirals around the Z-axis, decreasing the number of photos collected and dramatically the total time spent scanning. Going from top to bottom on the building also increases the efficiency of large multi-battery scans by requiring the drone to fly a shorter distance when repositioning itself following the battery swap. This new equipment makes 3D laser scanning services more accurate when capturing information. On top of that, the lasers used are much more precise than any human or 2D model you will ever find. 

Additionally, 3D Tower Capture sets the camera gimbal tilt to face downward, ensuring that shots include only significant textured surfaces. By enabling the X and/or Y scan passes, Skydios 3D scanning services can collect horizontal features such as the bottom of antennas intelligently and without recording superfluous or duplicate information. The 3D Tower Capture’s acute style also aids with ground capture, anchoring the model to global coordinates, especially when employing ground control points. 3D laser scanning services connected to drones have been one of the best inventions that help collect more details. 

Users can export all 3D Scan photos with their associated metadata to any third-party photogrammetry software to create 3D models. Skydio collaborates with several firms, including Bentley, DroneDeploy, Pix4D, and RealityCapture, to optimize output for respective platforms. 3D laser scanning services are here to stay and can partner with any number of editing programs.