New Canopy Penetration Technology

Published: July 3, 2024

DJI’s Zenmuse L2 LiDAR camera was launched into the Australian market this year and has proven to be a crucial step forward in aerial surveying technology. Rencon currently has crews using the L2 to monitor vegetation growth in remote Queensland for our clients to validate carbon credits, one of the many uses this new technology is helping to create opportunities and further our industry through the creation of increasingly accurate measurements for digital surface models. 

 

The major upgrades from its predecessor, the DJI L1, allows the L2 to penetrate through canopy for more accurate and specified data, leading to a significant improvement in efficiency and data capture accuracy including understory mapping. These advancements are proving especially valuable for practices in the forestry industry as AI processing software becomes more advanced stem diameters and heights can also be accurately mapped across large areas allowing our clients to monitor growth, vegetation, recovery and rehabilitation. 

 

The upgraded IMU allows for faster processing, thereby allowing for increased number of returns per second. The most notable improvement is the controller software, which now creates a preliminary 3D model at time of capture, which allows Rencon pilots to quality check the data acquisition on-site ensuring a high quality of work, saving time and money 

 

Rencon’s drones equipped with the L2 camera can fly over a target area and capture a full 3D model of the landscape and vegetation. The defining features are high precision, exceptional efficiency, superior penetration, detection range, point cloud live view and one-click processing on DJI terra. Its’ two scanning modes: repetitive scanning mode for high precision mapping needs and non-repetitive scaling mode for deeper canopy penetration as well as structural data. 

 

The L2’s Canopy Penetration is designed to bring forest management to the next level, specifically in environments with significant interference from trees, foliage or undergrowth. Where traditional drone communication and prediction has struggled, the L2 is an advancement in providing better solutions. with this efficient and uninterrupted data capturing technology.   

 

The team at Rencon Air & Land are excited about utilising the new L2 Camera and its features, to provide our new and existing clients across multiple industries many benefits in their quest to improve management practices, cost efficiencies and overall technological advancements.