Unlike Other Drones, the GEON E61 Was Designed to Operate Close to the Ground

Ask people to picture a drone — an unmanned aerial vehicle, not a low-level bee subject to its queen — and unfailingly they will picture a device flying high aloft with a bird’s eye view of the world below.  

ArroTech’s GEON E61 metal-detecting drone flies counter to expectations.  

Members of ArroTech’s development team recognize that the GEON E61 is an unusual bird, one designed to be flown close to the ground, typically just 40 to 60 centimeters in the air. 

Enabling a relatively heavy UAV to do so while steadily maintaining a very precise elevation over variable terrain, not just flat ground, is a tough assignment. It involved an engineering feat of great sophistication, but the ability to capture good survey data required nothing less. 

“The control algorithm is quite complex,” said Tobias Leininger, ArroTech’s chief technical officer. “For example, it has to decide if obstacles are soft, like grass, and can be passed through. Other obstacles must be avoided, of course.” 

Sensors currently in use on the GEON E61 include LIDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging), accelerometers and RTK GNSS. And, said Leininger, “We can also use radar, sonar and others if needed to fly over water and survey beaches, for example.” 

Leininger anticipates that the capabilities of the GEON E61 will grow markedly after the advanced obstacle avoidance system that he is currently working on is introduced.   

A reliable guidance system is a key to the autonomous GEON E61 drone’s success and its utility in locating landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). 

“Nobody else has a drone that can fly so precisely follow terrain low to the ground,” Leininger emphasized.