Stennis Space Center Demonstration:
RIEGL 3D Laser Scanner Used for Marine Mapping Application

Early this year, 2012, representatives from RIEGL USA, along with EMC Survey, Inc., performed a marine mapping demonstration with the RIEGL LMS VZ-400 for the University of Southern Mississippi, along with other governmental agencies, at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Five groups were taken for tours along the East Pearl River in Mississippi during the tours both LiDAR and multi-beam sonar data was collected.

EMC Survey, Inc. allowed the usage of their RIEGL VZ-400 and Applanix POS MV navigation system for the demonstration, as well as the boat used, the “Sea Beneath”. The integrated system consisted of an inertial measurement unit (IMU), two Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas which are used for GPS Azimuth Measurement System (GAMS), VZ-400, and an acquisition computer. GAMS enables position accuracy resolution to be better for real-time trajectory usage.

The main object of interest during the demonstration was the lock on a branch of the East Pearl River that was used for the shuttle program to ship the external tank of the shuttle to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Another highlight of the data collection was the I-10 Bridge that crosses over the East Pearl River at the Louisiana border.

After the groups had finished out on the boat, they were invited back to a classroom nearby to see the data run through the early stages of post-processing and to see the clarity of the collected points in RiProcess. The collective group was impressed by the precision of the data, as well as the minute details captured by the scanner on both the lock and the bridge. Not to mention the fast processing time. The data collected in the lock took only 10 minutes to process on a laptop.