Help with Manual Overlap Calculation

First of all, have you read this?

https://support.dronesmadeeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417189360404-LiDAR-Flight-Planning-

Are you shooting images while collecting your lidar data?

What is the lidar equipment?

Hello Zane,

Yes, I have read the article you linked too.  Several times.  Map Pilot has been instrumental in my self learning, and searching/reading your user forums typically yields me an answer or two.

I am using a Rock Robotic R2A LiDar, mated with a Sony A5100 camera.  The camera's primary function is to take photos to colorize the point cloud, however, you can also use the camera to make good orthos/photogrammetry.  The camera will fire every two seconds.  Typically, we are only really worried about side overlap so our Lidar sees everything at least two or three times.  I would like to add that Map Pilot really helped me understand how to build and fly these missions.  I never, ever, worried about front overlap because the LiDar is constantly scanning.

I have now found a job where the "front" overlap percentage means something to the client (photo wise) even though its a Lidar mission.  As I am working out my flight planning and details (again, Map Pilot is so freakin awesome at this), I just want to make sure my thinking about how all this works is correct.

There is no one else in my office I can chat with that has any idea what I am talking about, so that is why I asked the question. 

I just want a nice, efficient mission, with just the "right" amount of imagery/data.  It is also winter, so the less time I need to spend in the air, the better.

Thank you for your time and I do value your feedback.

Cheers!

It is probably better to work backwards from the desired overlap to derive a flight speed since overlap is what you are trying to control and flight speed is what you have the most control over. The camera likely doesn't have a ton of intervalometer values available so you will have to pick the one that supports your need the best. 

Let's say your target overlap is 75% and assume the image footprint length of 87 meters is correct based on the camera's sensor, focal length, and altitude. 

For 75% overlap you want to trigger the next image 25% of the way through the ground footprint length, or 87m * .25, or 21.75 meters.

If you have an intervalometer that will support imaging at 2 seconds per image (.5 image/second) you could hit this imaging frequency value of 21.75 meters per image using a speed of 10.87 m/s. 

If the camera supports taking one image every second it would require flying at 21.75 m/s to give you 75% overlap but waypoint flight with Map Pilot Pro maxes out at 15 m/s so 2 seconds per image is probably the right setting there. 

Now, if there was a 1.5 second per image (.66 image/ second) intervalometer setting and you were really interested in getting done quickly and didn't have to worry about ground smear you could use that and fly at 14.3 m/s, which is supported.  (21.75 * .66 = 14.3)

Your initial calculation seems reasonable. 

Thank you Zane.

This confirms my thinking in my mission design.  I appreciate your time.

Cheers!

Ray