Optech announces Titan, the world’s first multispectral airborne lidar sensor

Optech is pleased to announce the latest addition to its innovative line of airborne laser terrain mappers (ALTM), the Optech Titan, launching a new era in remote sensing. For the first time ever, multispectral active imaging of the environment can occur day or night, enabling new vertical applications and information extraction capabilities for lidar.

In the past, single or dual-wavelength sensors were developed for specific market verticals and application requirements. Titan breaks away from this convention by combining three beams with separate wavelengths, increasing the information content that can be derived from the target surface and allowing surveying professionals to address many more applications using a single sensor solution. Whether the goal is high-precision, high-density topographic surveying, land cover classification, vegetation mapping, or shallow water bathymetry, the Optech Titan can accommodate them all.

According to Michael Sitar, Optech’s Business Manager for Airborne Mapping Solutions, “Titan is a paradigm shift from what has traditionally been possible using airborne lidar. By combining multiple wavelengths we not only improve current methods and results for existing applications, but also open up completely new opportunities and applications for lidar moving forward. Titan represents a premium environmental mapping solution capable of much more than simple coordinate measurement.”

Titan incorporates three independent laser beams at different wavelengths, with a combined ground sampling rate approaching 1 MHz. The sensor includes full gyro-stabilization compatibility for predictable point distribution and a fully-programmable scanner for significant point density increases at narrower FOVs. Passive imagery support is available via fully-embedded high-resolution metric mapping cameras, including multispectral, thermal, NIR and RGB. For applications that demand it, Titan also includes full-waveform recording capability for each independent lidar wavelength.

Workflow is a critical component of any successful remote sensing solution. Standard software deliverables with Titan include Optech FMS, a fully-featured flight management system that enables integrated mission planning for both lidar and camera, aircraft navigation, and real-time monitoring of the 3D active point clouds from each data channel alongside passive image thumbnails for in-air collection confidence. Also included is Optech’s Lidar Mapping Suite (LMS), an industry benchmark for production lidar processing and accuracy quantification across the entire project extent. Unique to Titan is an LMS software extension that provides enhanced map product deliverables for bathymetric and land cover classifications by leveraging Titan’s multispectral capability.