I’m wondering if Reach Module or any other upgrade versions as a lone or integrated with Navio2 can be used as an INS (GNSS+IMU)?
Recently bought a Livox Mid-40 for ground walk around LiDAR scanning project, but it would be great if I can integrate it with EMLID hardwares as an INS and put on a drone for Aerial LiDAR scanning purposes. Obviously even low cost INS hardware costs around $2000 and since EMLID hardwares got IMUs, GNSS and Baro sensors onboard, I think it is pretty potential to try out the combination.
If anyone has ever done this, please share me with software/hardware combinations and tool stacks. It is the best if it can be integrated with ROS. Thank you very much for your wisdom and help.
Yes its possible but the accuracy is not good enough for any aerial operation with some distance to ground.
For now you would need a separate imu or ins with built in gnss modul and a pitch/roll accuracy better then 0.1 if you fly lower then 10m of the ground. Of course accuracy needed determined the hardware spec
What if I would be flying around 30-60m above ground? That’s what I usually fly at for photogrammetry. I do appreciate your response. May be you can point me out some workflows or methods to do this?
I would love to know any usable low cost INS available for purchase in case you happened to know one or two.
Low cost and high altitude with accurate result doesnt exist yet. You either need much lower altitude or open your wallet alot more. The livox you have should be paired with ditto accurate IMU at the altitude you fly.
Thank you for your suggestion. This is really helpful for me. I could budget more than that, as long as it doesn’t exceed USD1000. How high could I fly with OpenRTK330 do you think?
Hard to say. There are so many uknown factors playing in.
I wild guess would be max 20m agl for an 2D accuracy of 20cm with 330RTK. The third dimension would highly(mainly) depend on terrain inclination&vegetation and flight elevation. And then theres the software to process all this.
To be honest, i dont think 1000$ is enough. You would be looking at a stand alone IMU + fusion with an Emlid product. The tough part would be processing.
Sorry i cant be of much more help, things are getting really expensive with Lidar at some alltiude, because it need high end parts to make it accurate enough.
GNSS + IMU integration is the last segment where big players like Trimble are still making the rules. See APX-20, it is like a standard used by Lidar integrators. I am sure Emlid is working on an alternative
@Pascal_P, the market for budget friendly high accuracy INS is ready for the taking. One of the biggest costs aside from the IMU is the insanely expensive INS processing software. There is only really one option on the market, Inertial Explorer and often this is even more expensive than the INS unit.
If EMLID could pull a Rabbit out of the Hat again like then did by being ahead of the curve with RTK GPS…!
