Cross Solutions is proud of its innovation and as such, our leap into the emerging and disruptive technology. Drone technology is radically changing the survey landscape allowing us to do more in less time.

So what’s an RPAS, you ask? For instance in Australia particularly, RPAS is the correct acronym for describing a drone. It stands for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System. Namely, RPAS operators in Australia, that wish to perform paid work for commercial purposes, are required by the Australian’s governing civil aviation authority (CASA), to be certified. This certification known as a ReOC, occurs at the business level, with the approval of a management system and chief pilot.

In addition to this, all operators or pilots, are also required to hold a remote operators license. Notably, it can only be obtained from a CASA registered provider.

For this reason, Cross Solutions has both certified pilots and it operates with a ReOC. This gives the piece of mind, that we both operate safely and within the guidelines of the law.

Our Systems
Our specialized drone hardware is a first for the NT and most of Australia. Furthermore, it can provide solutions and efficiency that other RPAS service providers just can’t offer.

Developed in the US and upgraded with additional advancements in drone and positioning technology. Our vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing platform, the Birdseye Firefly6, excels at missions requiring large areas to be flown. Furthermore, covering up to 80 hectares in a single flight, we can quickly and efficiently map your chosen area without the need for a large takeoff and landing area.

Furthermore, our multi-rotor systems the DJI Inspire 2 are a flagship cinematography all-in-one system, that provides incredible functionality. With dual camera and controller configuration both with live HD video streaming, the pilot can fly in difficult to manage environments, safely. All while the camera operator can independently get the shots you need.

Just a few of our featured RPAS services:

• Georeferenced ortho-imagery capture
• NIR and NDVI  image capture for vegetation monitoring and health assessment
• Structure inspection with 4K video capture & live video HD video feed
• 3D photogrammetry mapping survey

DRONE & MAPPING, INSPECTION OR ANALYSIS WITH A DIFFERENCE

Our specialized drone hardware is a first for the NT and most of Australia. Furthermore, it can provide solutions and efficiency that other RPAS service providers just can’t offer.

Developed in the US and upgraded with additional advancements in drone and positioning technology. Our vertical takeoff and landing fixed wing platform, the Birdseye Firefly6, excels at missions requiring large areas to be flown. Furthermore, covering up to 80 hectares in a single flight, we can quickly and efficiently map your chosen area without the need for a large takeoff and landing area.

Furthermore, our multi-rotor systems the DJI Inspire 2 are a flagship cinematography all-in-one system, that provides incredible functionality. With dual camera and controller configuration both with live HD video streaming, the pilot can fly in difficult to manage environments, safely. All while the camera operator can independently get the shots you need.

Firstly a drone captures imagery in 3 to 5 different bands or wavelengths of light.  After which, processing begins to calculate measurements from the images. These measurements are used to rectify the images to provide less vertical distortion, while also giving the images a third dimension.

In contrast, imagery from satellite or fixed-wing manned aircraft are also processed in a similar manner. The key advantage for drone products is the resulting high-resolution of the produced imagery (which can be as small as 1cm per pixel). This then produces dense point clouds that are millions of coordinates in 3D space.

Finally, the point cloud is taken into a preferred CAD software or used to produce other types of models. Namely, digital elevation models (DEM) or irregular triangular networks (TIN). In addition, a drafter can extract the location of features straight from the imagery or alternatively from the point cloud.

In fact, when more than 3-bands of the regular Red, Green and Blue visible spectrum of light are captured by the drone, other products are able to be produced, namely vegetation health maps. For example, if near-infrared light, is captured along with other bands of visible light, an analysis is then undertaken to get indicative maps of vegetations chlorophyll and thus health. Known as an NDVI analysis this heatmap is used to monitor vegetations capacity to absorb light and therefore grow.

If required. other forms of vegetation analysis and products are available when using combinations of different bands of light.

OUR EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE USED ON DRONE & MAPPING

BirdsEyeView Firefly6 Pro RTK Fixed Wing VTOL System

This plaform is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) RPAS specialising in large area mapping. The powered lift nature of the craft allows for easy launching in small areas similar to multi-copters and the ability to transition into fixed wing functionality, providing excellent flight endurance. The added benefit of RTK positioning systems onboard allow high accuracy spatial data sets such as large-format orthographic photographs and geo-spatial models to be created in less time

DJI Inspire 2 – Commercial Videography Multi-Rotor System

Purchased for the sole purpose of allowing us to provide the absolute best visual fidelity during inspection surveys, This platform is both, lightweight and small enough to travel with to any remote site, launch from a boat or get into difficult spots like between guide wires during inspection work.

Purpose built by DJI for Film and TV, the quality of video captured cannot be surpassed by any other drone of its size. With dual cameras on board, the pilot can remain in control and spatially aware while the camera operator focus’s on the job at hand. The 100km/h top speed isn’t a key feature of inspection survey drone, but what it does allow for is increadible performance in high wind environments as the platform can fight strong head or tail winds while remaining stable and fixed on its target.

DJI Phantom 4 RTK – Survey specific multi-rotor System

Another purpose built drone by DJI, this platform was designed with one thought in mind. The best survey grade results achievable in the smallest form factor. When tied to the DJI D-RTK 2 Base station the positioning of images can be as good as +/- 20mm and camera shutter syncronised to the millisecond. All leading to incredible photogrammetry results.