Obstacle detection system for DJI M300 RTK drone includes a 77GHz radar sensor, UgCS SkyHub hardware, and mountings developed by SPH Engineering as well as UgCS software support. Radar may detect obstacles in front of the drone at far distances, range is up to 40m.

‘Triggering distance is configurable in software settings. When any obstacle will be detected inside of a set range, RTH (return to home) will be triggered. This is the only robust approach to save a drone in any conditions, including BLOS flights and at the moments where connection with ground station was lost,’ Alexey Dobrovolskiy, CTO at SPH Engineering, comments.

The application areas of the system include but are not limited to magnetic surveys. These kinds of missions are usually planned using constant altitude over the ground surface taking into account average/maximum height of trees/obstacles in the survey area. But the need to collect data with maximum resolution and quality conflicts with the safety of the flight, and collision with trees is the most ‘popular’ reason for drone crashes during magnetic surveys. New collision prevention systems may save very expensive equipment while still allowing the collection of high-quality data.

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