In Berlin this year, RIEGL announced a number of products, including a new RiCopter and a version of their miniVUX-1UAV lidar that looks down for better corridor mapping.
The company was also showing off their new VZ-2000i terrestrial laser scanner. This device features a “future-oriented” processing architecture—including two on-board processors—that enables it to run multiple parallel processes. While scanning in the field, the device can perform registration, geo-referencing, and orientation of data simultaneously, and in real time.
Notably, RIEGL says the new scanner includes full documentation of all of its components, which offers a “sound basis” for developing your own custom Python apps to enhance scanner functionality.
Specs: Fast, Long-Range
The scanner is designed to be fast and work well over long distances, capturing 1.2 million points per second at up to 2,500 meters. It boasts 5 mm accuracy and 3 mm precision. RIEGL recommends the device for topography and mining, city modeling, tunnel surveying, civil engineering, and natural hazard surveying, among other applications.
As you might expect from RIEGL, the device features a recent iteration of the company’s waveform-liar technology, which uses echo digitization, online waveform processing, and multiple-time-around processing to offer accurate measurements regardless of weather conditions or range requirements.
User-friendly options
Alongside the VZ-2000i, RIEGL announced a new app that will let users control the VZ line of scanners remotely, “from anywhere in the world.” This app, available for Windows and Apple devices, displays the GUI of the scanner on your screen, whether you are local or connected to the device remotely.
It also includes a number of pre-defined workflows that allow users to operate the scanner by pressing one GUI button per scanner position. “Once the scanner is re-arranged,” RIEGL says, “a new scan position will automatically be generated.”
