25 unmanned systems
inside
April/May 2017
ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY.
S
pecialized in geomatics, aerial
photogrammetr y, and 3-D
geo-referenced land and ba-
thy metr y mapping, Nantes-based
Heliceo aims to design, produce and
distribute complete end-to-end solu-
tions for a number of application do-
mains. Its product line includes fully au-
tomated, vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) airplanes, multirotor drones
and unmanned catamarans as well as
terrestrial photogrammetry solutions.
All of Heliceo's systems work with
the company's cost-reducing DroneBox
RTK, a nifty one-of-a-kind modular
'plug-and-play' unit—a box that pops
into and out of any of the company's
various unmanned vehicles and more
conventional hand-held solutions.
The DroneBox incorporates a GNSS
geodetic map, telemetry, communica-
tion, archiving, autopilot, flight control-
ler and avionics, and can be custom-fit-
ted depending on mission requirements.
Heliceo also offers a full line of ser-
vices, training and access to the photo-
grammetric chain required to process
topographic data.
Heliceo's CEO Jean-François Baudet
spoke to Inside Unmanned Systems
from the company's new offices in San
Francisco, where staff have been set-
tling in since last December.
"We are moving into North America
because of the size of the market,"
Baudet said. "It is a very concrete op-
portunity, with 12,000 quarries, 2,000
open pit mines and hundreds of thou-
sands of construction sites all over
the country. It is also the number one
market in the world in terms of drone
technologies."
"IT IS A VERY CONCRETE OPPORTUNITY, WITH 12,000 QUARRIES, 2,000
OPEN PIT MINES AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CONSTRUCTION
SITES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. IT IS ALSO THE NUMBER ONE MARKET IN
THE WORLD IN TERMS OF DRONE TECHNOLOGIES."
Jean-François Baudet, CEO, Helicio