Drone Services
C.R. Kennedy is a nationwide organisation which employs more than 250 people within various significant divisions.
The largest of these divisions is the ‘survey division’ which distributes land surveying, construction, laser scanning, machine control, laser levelling and laser distance measuring equipment throughout the country.
CR Kennedy’s major distribution partnership for the survey division is with Leica-Geosystems, a Swiss organisation with more than 200 years of history.
The Leica Aibot sits quite significant within this UAV product offering.
Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), or perhaps even the remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), are here to stay, and CR Kennedy has a range of multi rotor and fixed wing solutions for mapping, aerial photography, aerial inspections, mine mapping, LIDAR and real-time surveillance.
Combined with the various software packages, these solutions can produce high quality digital terrain models (DTMs), 3D models, point clouds, and orthographic photographs.
Laser scanning, LIDAR, is becoming more and more a viable option in the UAV world and CR Kennedy can offer various options if this level of detail, accuracy and delivery speed are required.
CR Kennedy’s UAV related product basket extends to such significant brands as Geocue PPK and LIDAR systems, Dji drones, Riegl LIDAR, Wingtra VTOL drone, Hovermap (SLAM) LIDAR, Pix4d software, Parazero recovery systems, Blue Vigil tethers and, as mentioned, the Leica Aibot.
It is the case that today, CR Kennedy is by far the largest distributor of drones in Australia.
Through the various brands, including DJI, it currently delivers more than 1000 drones throughout Australia on a monthly basis – a number that is quite illuminating in regard to drone usage in Australia today.
UAV options
A Dji Phantom 4 RTK or Matrice 200 package, teamed with software and training, is often the starting place for many entering the UAV industry.
Considering the breadth of the DJI range, many required tasks can be completed by the various options within this family.
Things move very quickly in the UAV world and processes such as PPK (post processing Kinematic) are now commonplace.
These PPK systems are added to the drone in order to boost the accuracy potential and vastly reduce the reliance on multiple ground control points being needed in order to achieve acceptable accuracy.
Another excellent option is the Leica Aibot multi rotor system.
This PPK system utilises a high-end Sony camera and Ronin gimbal, combined with Leica GNSS technology and Leica Infinity software to provide a 100pc Leica work flow.
Moving beyond photogrammetry, CR Kennedy can also offer various LIDAR solutions.
These include the SLAM-based Hovermap, the Geocue Trueview 410 or the Riegl Vux Mini LIDAR system.
These three options would all pair with the industry leading DJI M600 drone for a formidable solution.
Software
Pix4D software, exclusively distributed by CR Kennedy, generates high-end, survey-grade accurate orthomosaics, DSMs and Point clouds in a few clicks only, and with a fully automatic worfklow.
Quickly becoming the go-to software package, CR Kennedy can package Pix 4d into your UAV purchase or supply licensing as required.
Hexagon Geosystems and Leica also provide Infinity and 3D Reshaper software.
This is becoming more and more relevant with Infinity supporting the entire photogrammetry process through use of the Leica Aibot and, considering the Lidar options provided by CR Kennedy, 3D Reshaper is an excellent option for working with these point clouds.
Training and CASA qualifications
CR Kennedy partners with a variety of training providers around the country who can assist with licensing requirements.
All partners work closely with CASA and do work efficiently through the various processes to get organisations flying in as short a time frame as possible.
As with software, training can also be included in a UAV package.
CR Kennedy is very involved in providing CASA based training through its partnering with such industry leading companies as UAS Pacific and Aviassist.