AEROmetrex has added an

important new capability to

its burgeoning range of ser-

vices by signing up as the

Australian prime distributor

for Hawkeye-UAV systems,

based in New Zealand. AERO-

metrex is offering a range of

sales and service options

under this agreement with

Hawkeye-UAV, including sales

of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

(UAV) systems to approved

end-users, training new UAV

operators and auditing cli-

ent’s UAV operations, and

providing an end-to-end UAV-

based mapping service.

AEROmetrex MD Mark Deuter

said that the Hawkeye-UAV

system met all their expecta-

tions of what a small UAV

system should be. “We were

impressed with the sophisti-

cation of the auto-pilot and

flight management functions

as well as the aircraft itself.

The system is easy and safe

to operate, with soft launch

and parachute primary recov-

ery. It has a strong military

pedigree and that shows up

in a very professional prod-

uct. We were also impressed

with the people behind the

product, so that gave us a lot

of confidence in taking on the

distributorship.”

The mapping aspects of the

system have been given plen-

ty of attention also, with the

development of a processing

system especially tailored for

the UAV system. This pro-

cessing system is optimized

AEROMETREX IN HAWKEYE-UAV DEAL

Check out AEROmetrex’s

new on-line presence at:

Linked-In

Flickr

YouTube

AEROmetrex Blog

Twitter

Products, samples and dis-

cussion galore!

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

AMX into UAVs 1

UAV Regulations 2

Takin’ it to the Streets 2

New Home for AMX 3

Wild Man Returns from Borneo

3

Borneo Pics 4

Volume 3, Issue 3

July 2012

news

Captions top to bottom:

Hawkeye-UAV in NZ

Worm’s eye view

Sample Sony 16MP image

WINE WINNER

The winner of the draw of re-

spondents to our Metro Ade-

laide Orthophoto Survey Ques-

tionnaire is Mike Roe of Tea

Tree Gully Council. Mike has

won a very nice bottle of Ama-

dio Cab Sav, with our compli-

ments. Thanks to all who partic-

ipated in the survey, we look

forward to providing an even

better Metro Adelaide Ortho-

photo Series based on your

feedback.

for handling the wide-angle im-

agery collected by the UAV cam-

era and is generating good

point cloud data and ortho-

photo images. In addition, AER-

Ometrex is providing a full range

of photogrammetric mapping

products to provide a com-

prehensive photogrammetric

service.

More UAV issues on page 2.

AEROmetrex has been wow-

ing the local SA spatial indus-

try with a new development

aimed at street-level mobile

mapping systems using high-

quality imagery as a primary

data source.

This system was devised as

an extension to Aerometrex’s

highly successful engineering

aerial surveys using ultra-

detailed 2.5cm GSD aerial

imagery. These surveys

achieved amazing productivi-

ty with zero access issues,

and satisfied the stringent

accuracy standards required

by design engineers. Howev-

er there are some things that

an aerial camera can’t see,

such as underside of bridges,

awnings, inside tunnels, etc.

Our mobile mapping system

was designed to plug that

remaining small gap but is

already finding wider applica-

tions in areas as diverse as

road and pavement surface

monitoring, architectural

studies and urban planning,

as well as design engineering

applications.

The prototype system using 5

digital SLR cameras is mount-

ed on a roof rack on top of

our ageing Subaru survey

vehicle. It isn’t pretty, but it’s

doing the job!

A key advantage of this sys-

tem is that the imagery is

triangulated in street-long

blocks. It can then be present-

ed in 3D on a soft-copy photo-

grammetry system and used

to make highly accurate 3D

measurements. Unlike 2D

digitising systems, in which

operators have to rotate da-

tasets on each mouse click to

ensure that the intended

points have been selected,

our operators are able to dig-

itise in full 3D stereo to milli-

metric accuracy.

The capital cost of this system

is also far less than vehicle-

mounted LiDAR systems,

which presents obvious sav-

ings.

The volume of measurements

captured by this system is

truly staggering. Up to 720

million points per second can

be measured!

Page 2

STR EET -L EV EL M O BI LE MAPP I N G S Y S T E M

Volume 3, Issue 3

UAV S Y S T E M S - R E G U L AT I O N S A N D O P E R AT I O N S There is a lot of euphoria

around at the moment re-

garding UAVs but in the inter-

ests of balanced reporting it

is appropriate to spend a few

column inches discussing the

regulatory environment in

which UAVs are currently al-

lowed to operate in Australia.

Firstly, UAV operations in

Australia are controlled by the

Civil Aviation Safety Authority

(CASA), whose job it is to con-

trol Australian airspace to

make “safer skies for all”.

CASA is grappling with the

rapid development and capa-

bility of UAV systems and

have required UAV operators

to abide by a strict set of op-

erational rules which are de-

signed to ensure effective

control of UAVs at all times

and to maintain separation of

aircraft.

There is no doubt that UAVs

are not toys and all UAV oper-

ators carry a substantial re-

[Top] Ye Gods! No-one said it was pretty.

[Bottom] Full stereo 3D capture at street level is now a reality.

sponsibility to ensure safety

of operations and correct

maintenance procedures.

The process required by CASA

to establish a commercial

UAV service is similar to es-

tablishing a light aircraft op-

eration. These are:

Each company that seeks to

operate a UAV should hold a

UAV Operator’s Certificate.

This is analogous to an Air

Operator’s Certificate in

commercial aviation.

The company then needs to

appoint a UAV Chief Control-

ler (like a Chief Pilot) who

would ideally have a com-

mercial pilot’s licence and

would be endorsed on that

particular UAV with a mini-

mum of 5hrs experience.

UAV Controllers (analogous

to pilots) need to have at

least the theory component

of their Private Pilot’s Li-

cence and also need a mini-

mum 5hrs endorsement on

type.

Before a company will be

awarded a UAV Operator’s

Certificate it has to show a

comprehensive operational

management system, including

the supply of Operations,

Maintenance, Safety Manage-

ment and Standard Operating

Procedures Manuals, and to

supply evidence of their com-

petence to manage such an

operation to CASA.

All of this regulation is to pro-

tect the safety of the industry

and the reputation of UAV sur-

veying in general, and we em-

brace it.

There is nothing wrong with

weeding out cowboy operators,

some of whom have been ille-

gally conducting UAV or ‘model

aircraft’ surveys for some time.

It will only take one accident to

expose the fearful risks that

these operators are running.

However it does present new

entrants to aerial surveying

some formidable barriers to

contend with if they wish to

establish a new UAV operation.

AEROmetrex has decided to

address this issue by offering

two service options under its

own UAV Operator Certificate.

These are:

A. The client leases or purchas-

es their own UAV and out-

sources the operation of the

UAV to AEROmetrex, or

B. AEROmetrex provides an

end-to-end service with its own

UAVs.

Option A guarantees UAV avail-

ability to the client, and allows

the gradual introduction of this

technology into a company.

Option B is the lowest-risk,

fastest and easiest option.

AEROmetrex News Page 3

BO R N EO DEF OR ESTACTION PRO J EC T

He is probably too modest to

say it, but AEROmetrex staff

member Fabrice Marre has

recently put his environmen-

tal conscience and his feet

together in Borneo to make

a difference to our planet.

Fabrice spent nearly 3

months living in Borneo and

working on the DeforestAC-

TION program described

below, on his own time and

expense. We applaud Fab-

rice’s effort and commitment

to this program.

DeforestACTION is a global

movement of youth and

schools taking action against

deforestation in Borneo. It is

a global partnership includ-

ing world renowned scien-

tists, not for profit organiza-

tions, conservationists and

educators.

The DeforestACTION initia-

tive was established by

school students in order to

empower all young people

worldwide to :

become inspired, engaged

and excited by working

collaboratively across the

planet on meaningful pro-

jects that halt or limit de-

forestation

become informed and criti-

cal consumers and crea-

tors of information relating

to the issues and politics of

NE W AD ELA I D E OFF I CE AEROmetrex has moved its

Head Office and main pro-

duction facility!

After 12 years at St Morris,

we have taken the plunge

and moved into a much larg-

er office at 59 King William

St, Kent Town. This area has

become a bit of a spatial

precinct in Adelaide, with

Alexander & Symonds, Ton-

kin Consulting and Euro Ex-

ploration Services a stone’s

throw away.

The move reflects the growth

path of AEROmetrex over the

last 6 years and in the end

became inevitable.

deforestation

become actively involved in

finding, implementing and

owning solutions.

The key approaches of the pro-

ject are:

Finding ways to preserve ‘at

risk’ forest and creating liveli-

hoods for local landowners

Creating a global awareness

campaign for the destruction

caused by palm oil production

Collaborating with local peo-

ple and helping animals who

are victims of deforestation

The students decided to focus

awareness and fundraising

efforts towards a project in Bor-

neo, Indonesia. They also decid-

ed they needed people repre-

senting them on the ground in

Borneo. Fifteen individuals from

all around the world were even-

tually selected. They came from

varied backgrounds including:

reforestation, government rela-

tions, geospatial technology,

wildlife rescue and rehabilita-

tion and the media. They

formed four teams including:

animal rescue, education, refor-

estation and mapping.

Working with the resources they

had, the Eco Warriors spent

100 days in Borneo and decid-

ed to focus their efforts on per-

forming educational workshops

The new office is much more

presentable and comfortable for

our staff and has valuable ware-

house space attached also.

Such is the nature of telephone

exchanges that we had to

change our phone numbers on

relocating only 4km away from

the old office.

Our new phone number is 08

8362 9911, and fax number is

08 8363 2777.

Please feel welcome to visit us

at our new premises, we are

keen to show off a much more

professional-looking AEROme-

trex.

at schools in the Sintang region

and Tembak village, and assist-

ing the latter to develop an

animal rescue and rehabilita-

tion site in its community forest

– complemented by a nursery

with fruit trees and other useful

species – and ecotourism

(aided by aerial images and

GPS mapping). Supported by

the Earthwatchers programme,

the Eco Warriors also assisted

the villagers of Ensaid Panjang

longhouse who are facing chal-

lenges to hold on to their com-

munity forest against palm oil

companies.

The Eco Warriors have part-

nered with a team of capable

and trusted locals, NGOs and

companies to continue the

work they started.

Earthwatchers

Developed by Geodan, Earth-

watchers is a ground breaking

new software tool that enables

participants from around the

world to monitor the forests of

Borneo and provide usable

intelligence to help stop defor-

estation.

The main objectives of this

project are to:

Involve Earthwatchers from

around the world in forest

conservation efforts via Satel-

lite Earth Observation

(crowdsourcing effort allocat-

ing small areas to thousands

of volunteers each), in turn

increasing environmental

and specific deforestation

awareness

Make available and accessi-

ble different geographic lay-

ers of the specified area for

the Earthwatchers to explore

and understand the inter-

relationship between biotic

and abiotic factors in forest

conservations (biodiversity

layer, forest density, human

accessibility and infrastruc-

ture, carbon deposits, etc).

Develop crowdsourcing tools

and techniques for human

computation of radar earth

observation deployed on a

webGIS environment linked

to social media to enable

collaborative intelligence

(joint decision by crowd wis-

dom) and improving the

system by self-learning on

results

Create awareness/learning

materials about earth obser-

vation (especially radar) and

environmental issues tai-

lored to students aged 12-

18

Prove that useful results can

be harnessed from radar

earth observation analyzed

using human computation in

a crowdsourcing effort.

Click here for more info.

AEROmetrex Pty Ltd

59 King William St

Kent Town SA 5067

Phone: +61 8 8362 9911

Fax: +61 8 8363 2777

Email: info@aerometrex.com.au

Page 4 Volume 3, Issue 3

KEY CONTACTS

Managing Director Mark Deuter

Technical Director David Byrne

Financial Director Matthew White

Aviation Director Scott Tomlinson

Stereo Coordinator/Director Beata Serafin

Business Development Robert Rusk

Todd Dunow

George Sioutis

Andrew Watts (Victoria)

Fabrice Marre

Ortho Manager Arek Wierzbicki

Survey Coordinator Will James-Martin

Office Manager Sally Walkden

Background: Virgin Borneo

rain forest is being wiped

out at the rate of 300 foot-

ball fields per day.

Top: Monoculture planta-

tions of palm oil.

Rescuing local fauna, in this

case orang-utans.

Documenting illegal clearing

with UAVs

Earthwatchers offers young

people the opportunity to

make a difference by moni-

toring their own patch of

rain forest.