Terrain Following by Stratomaps

Description

About Terrain Following

Terrain following assist in converting flight paths from Above Ground Level to Mean Sea Level or the drone's Home referential.

In areas with significant slopes, programming the drone to maintain a constant elevation above ground level is crucial for staying below the maximum authorized altitude and above the minimum safety altitude, ensuring avoidance of artificial or natural ground obstacles. The altitude helper service is available as an API.
‍
When executing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) missions, drones must adjust their altitude Above Ground Level (AGL) to remain below the maximum regulatory authorized altitude and above the minimum safety altitude, avoiding artificial or natural ground obstacles. The challenge lies in the drone's reference system, which is either based on a barometer calibrated at the departure point or on GNSS combined with Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning, providing altitude Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL). The missing element is ground elevation. Stratomaps' Altitude Helpers, or terrain following, address this by converting AGL flight paths into AMSL or into the drone's Home referential. For this purpose, we process high-resolution and precise Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data for specific mission zones.

The Elevation API includes four endpoints to:
Provide elevation data for any ground location
Associate elevation with each location in a KML or GPX file
Transform AGL paths into the drone’s home referential
Transform AGL paths into MSL
Technical API details can be found in the developers' zone.

The altitude helper API is provided as a service. However, it is not a substitute for obtaining flight authorization from relevant regulatory authorities.

About Us

Stratomaps was founded by Yvan Montalieu, who has a background in mapping, Location-Based Services for terrestrial mobility. Over the past two decades, he has assisted numerous companies in incorporating maps and geospatial services into their products, while also leading teams of geospatial platform developers. The decision to venture into aerial maps and services stemmed from recognizing the potential of digitized ground objects and hazards to produce valuable aerial map data for drones. This complements the existing restrictions and prohibitions set by national civil aviation authorities. Adding the third dimension, altitude, to typical geospatial services, presents complexities, but it also brings exciting new challenges.

Yvan has successfully rallied a small team of algorithm experts and developers who are enthusiastic about addressing these new challenges. Beyond the intellectual fulfillment of pioneering new technologies for UAS, the team shares a common mission: to enhance operational safety, reduce carbon emissions, and mitigate societal impacts.

Our Mission

stratomaps was born out of the belief that we stand on the brink of a new era, where Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will become a mainstream mode of transportation. The growing use of drone activities Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), such as large scale infrastructure surveillance, rescue operations, delivery of medical supplies, and Urban Air Mobility, will only be permitted by authorities if they pose minimal airborne, ground risks and annoyance to the population.

Our mission is to develop technologies that will help to improve safety of operations, reduce carbon emission and mitigate societal impact.

We believe we can help improve safety by:
- providing awareness services
- computing routes that minimize risks

We believe we can help reduce carbon emission by
- computing optimal routes 
- optimizing deliveries and infrastructure inspection missions

We believe we can help mitigate societal impact of drones by
- recommending routes that limit public disturbance
- defining new maps with dedicated UAV corridors

Services

1. Terrain Following

Terrain following to convert Above Ground Level flight paths into Mean Sea Level or drone’s Home referential.

2. Route planning

Commute the shortest route for flights operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight, taking into account ground hazards, air restrictions and prohibitions.

3. Route optimization

Optimize the assignment of drones to jobs for infrastructure inspections or deliveries, taking into account the specific constraints of both drones and jobs.

4. Geo-awareness

Provide up to date air and ground information to the drone's operators about restrictions and prohibitions in relation to the drone's location and altitude.

5. Geo-caging

3D virtual cages generated for a given zone or in a corridor along the drone's route. The virtual cages can be used to raise different levels of alerts and automate emergency actions.

6. Route validation
Load the trace of the planned route and validate that it does not intersect with any ground hazards, prohibited, or restricted zones.