IMAGING

Bluesky LiDAR Reveals Archaeological Legacy of London Landscape

A detailed laser mapped aerial survey from Bluesky is helping the City of London Corporation understand and plan for the future of London’s most extensive, natural grassland. The historic environment assessment of Farthing Downs was completed by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) and will form the first stage in the preparation of a Heritage Conservation Management Plan for the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Using the LiDAR data from Bluesky, alongside historic maps, geological data, archaeological reports and aerial photographs, researchers were able to identify a number of features including evidence of post-medieval farming techniques, Later Iron Age earthworks and Second World War bomb-craters. The desk-based study, which assessed buried heritage assets (archaeological remains) concluded that survival across the site is likely to be moderate to high and the findings will provide background data for a more detailed field walkover survey.

The Bluesky LiDAR was captured to a resolution of 50 cm across the site located in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. Supplied to MOLA as a mosaic dataset, researchers rendered the Bluesky data using ArcMap desktop GIS software. www.bluesky-world.com

Remote sensing will advance safety and security applications in Arctic

A new consortium of international companies, called IRSA Development Group (IDG), was announced October 1, 2019, at DEFSEC Atlantic in Halifax, Canada. IDG consists of international companies with expertise in selected technology domains to bring the world an advanced remote sensing network.

Integrated Remote Sensing for the Arctic (IRSA) is a scalable, civilian, all-domain system-of- systems remote sensing solution designed to provide more persistent monitoring of the Arctic.

The network comprises satellites, high altitude long endurance (HALE) drones, medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drones, small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), sea-surface and subsea platforms, and ground stations. Technology development for each segment, and their integration, is underway. Initial IRSA services are expected to be available to clients in early 2020.

Recognizing the need for more persistent remote sensing, robust communication and data connectivity in the Arctic, Boeing Defense, Space, and Security (BDS) began an intensive study in 2015, mapping the challenges and identifying gaps in designing and creating a solution to address them. Since then, Boeing has invested in establishing an international consortium to develop the technologies, products and services that can provide that solution through the IRSA program.

IRSA Development Group (IDG) The IDG is a multi-national collaboration among Arctic nations and world-leading innovators in advanced technologies for the polar regions. IDG’s objective is to develop and commercialize the IRSA solution as a service for safety and security in the Arctic. The partner organizations are: C-CORE (Canada), MyDefence System Integration (Kingdom of Denmark), Andoya Space Center (Norway), VTT (Finland), Scott Polar Research Institute (United Kingdom), Karl Osen (Switzerland), ViaSat Antenna Systems (Switzerland), and Boeing Phantom Works (USA). www.spacedaily.com

Dronecloud announces enabling LAANC capability for US operations

DronecloudTM, the drone management software company, has announced that LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) is now available for free in all subscription levels.

The DronecloudTM platform is a leading all in one business and compliance solution for drone operations capable of managing all aspects of drone operation. Integrating all the elements necessary from client communications and CRM to flight planning. www.suasnews.com