Weaver selects UX11 UAV for surveying and mapping

Weaver Consultants Group has selected Delair’s UX11 unmanned aerial vehicle to assist with its large-scale volumetric surveying and topographic mapping. 

Commercial UAV manufacturer Delair along regional reseller Seiler Instrument, announced that the engineering firm had selected the UAV, which will initially be used to develop digital versions of its clients’ sites – mainly large disposal and landfill operations – and perform regular volume calculations to assist in managing the land use at those sites.

The Delair UAV gives the Weaver team an efficient way to cover large areas quickly, the company says, and provides them with precision data, including detailed images, as well as environmental information needed to monitor their operations.

‘For the large areas we need to cover, a fixed-wing drone makes sense,’ Kurt Aper, unmanned aerial team lead at Weaver, said. 

‘We can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time – we can do three or four 45min flights per day and get reasonably high-resolution data, even flying at 234ft. We can do 900 acres in a day and there’s no way we could do that with rotor style drones, much less by foot.’

Aper noted that a project of more than 40 acres is roughly the threshold where the real benefits of a fixed-wing UAV such as the UX11 become apparent. 

The Delair UAV is becoming a critical tool for them as they help landfill developers and operators precisely estimate the volume of materials that are filling their sites, and develop expansion plans, the company added. 

Seiler Instrument and Delair field support teams worked alongside Weaver’s surveying team to evaluate the Delair system to ensure it met the firm’s requirements, including integration with other tools the firm uses such as AutoCAD, Trimble Business Center, and the Pix4D photogrammetry suite.

The Delair UX11 UAV was introduced commercially last year, and is one of the company’s top-of-the-line systems. 

The fixed-wing aircraft provides accurate images for survey-grade mapping, with on-board processing capabilities and real-time, and long-range control via 3G/4G cellular networks or radio links.