NOAA's Visit and Receipt of Airborne Platform

Representatives of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), USA, sister organization of NASA, have received their new RIEGL Airborne platform in Horn.

In August, 2010, NOAA had ordered a client specific platform for airborne scanning purposes from RIEGL. The system was to contain two RIEGL LMS-Q680i Laser Scanners, an associated inertial measurement unit IMU, and a DSS double camera system.

The location and orientation of the laser scanners and the cameras have been carefully defined in order to avoid obscurations of the full field of view of the laser scanners (60 deg) as well as of the cameras (54 deg). The laser scanners are placed in same direction side by side to enable synchronization of the scanned laser beam to avoid crosstalk between the two instruments.

The IMU is located between the laser scanners close to the mounting points to assure a rigid connection to the structure of the scanning mechanism. The mounting plate is made of a 20 mm aluminium cast plate – extremely rigid and distortion free by additional reinforcement bars.

The complete platform was developed precisely fitting a Beechcraft King Air plane and is going to be on duty for more than 400 flying hours per year.

High spirits upon NOAA's visit in Horn: Michael L. Aslaksen, chief of NOAA Remote Sensing Division and the representatives were very satisfied with the smooth cooperation and adaptation to their specific needs and the fast realization of the NOAA platform. We were even presented the NOAA medal, "National Geodetic Survey Partner". Thank you!

To count such an important and worldwide unequalled reputable organization like NOAA among our customers is something that makes us really proud!