• 11/04/2012
  • |     BB

Trimble Acquires UAV Manufacturer Gatewing

U.S. based Trimble has acquired one of its competitors, the privately-held Gatewing in Belgium, a provider of lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology.

Trefwoorden: #gatewing, #trimble, #uav

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Techniek

ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- UAVs in combination with photogrammetry are an emerging technology providing an innovative platform for flexible aerial imagery acquisition.

UAVs are used in a variety of applications including preliminary surveys for corridors and rights-of-way, volumetric surveys, high-level topographic surveys, land fill inspection, and much more.

Trimble, one of the larger UAV market players, now has acquired the Belgium based Gatewing. Founded in 2008, this university of Gent spinoff builds one of the world's fastest and easiest to use remote sensing solutions for the surveying and mapping industry.

Gatewing's UAV consists of an airframe; an integrated GPS, inertial system and a radio; a 10 megapixel camera; and battery.

The company also developed special desktop software for digital image processing and analysis, that uses advanced computer vision technology which automates raw image processing to deliver georeferenced orthophotos and accurate DSM.

As an alternative to the desktop software, users can upload images to Gatewing's cloud solution, which automatically processes the images based on the users' requirements.

After a few hours, users can download their georeferenced orthophotos and DSMs from the cloud server including feedback about the results for quality assurance.

"The Gatewing team is excited about the new ownership," said Maarten Vandenbroucke, CEO and one of three founders of Gatewing.

"For Trimble to see the value in unmanned aerial systems for surveying and mapping applications means that the industry is truly ready for this exciting new technology."

"We are enthusiastic about how UAVs can revolutionize the landscape and open a complete new spectrum in remote sensing applications. I believe that being a part of Trimble will accelerate the pace in which UAVs will further be adopted by professionals."

The Gatewing business will be reported as part of Trimble's Engineering and Construction segment.


(picture: Gatewing/Trimble)

BACKGROUNDER
Trimble’s technology is focused on applications requiring position or location - including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.