Wingtra, the Swiss drone company that develops the first commercially successful vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone, has signed a reseller agreement with GALILEO INSTRUMENTS SAS, an established distributor of surveying, GNSS and geomatic equipment in Colombia since 2010.
Speaking on the partnership, Percy Paredes said: “We are proud to sign Galileo on as our newest partner in Colombia. They bring much experience and knowledge of UAV technologies in different fields. Galileo will help Wingtra enter the agriculture market, which is very strong in Colombia. We wish Galileo great success in this field, and we believe this partnership will help us accomplish great goals in Colombia.”
“The Andes present harsh and challenging conditions for mappers and surveyors looking to use drones. Other surveying and mapping drones don’t offer VTOL capabilities, making them unsuitable for use in the Andes and many parts of Colombia, where the vegetation is dense and the terrain uneven” commented Julian Rodrigue.
He added, “anybody looking to carry out a survey in the region will know how difficult it is to find a good launch and recovery area for a belly-landing drone. We think WingtraOne meets the needs of those looking to carry out topographical mapping and surveying projects in Colombia”
WingtraOne takes off and lands like a multicopter, but flies as a fixed-wing aircraft. This technology eliminates the risk of damaging the drone while landing and lets it carry heavier and thus better sensors (e.g. 42MP Sony RX1RII and spectral cameras) while allowing the mapping of large areas.
The post-processed kinematics (PPK) upgrade allows the WingtraOne to reach new levels of accuracy. With this system and the highest quality sensors, WingtraOne reaches accuracy down to 1 cm (0.4 in) without any ground control points.
Established in 2010, Galileo Instruments SAS provides high-quality products and services in engineering, surveying, mining and geomatics. Its technical team is made up of professionals from the Earth sciences and specialists in the management of new technologies related to surveying. They offer sales, training, repair, calibration and general maintenance of topographic and GNSS instruments such as: total stations, theodolites and precision levels.
