With the rapid development of technology and the increasing maturity of aviation technology, the low altitude economy is gradually emerging as a new engine driving economic growth and innovative development. Low altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that is driven by various low altitude flight activities of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, radiating and driving the integrated development of related fields. It is not only widely reflected in the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, but also plays an increasingly important role in promoting economic development, strengthening social security, and serving the national defense industry. In this promising market, sensor technology plays a crucial role.

The application of sensors in low altitude economy

1. Flight attitude and navigation sensors

Low altitude aircraft, such as drones, helicopters, and eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles), are mainly targeted at five major scenarios: emergency response, logistics, transportation, entertainment consumption, and agricultural and forestry inspections. The sensors used in the autonomous navigation systems of these aircraft include GPS, inertial measurement units (IMUs), visual sensors, LiDAR, millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic radar, infrared sensors, barometers, magnetometers, and electronic weather instruments.

GPS： As a global positioning system, GPS can provide the position and velocity information of aircraft, and is the basic sensor in the autonomous navigation system of low altitude aircraft.

IMU： The ability to use information such as the attitude, acceleration, and angular velocity of an aircraft to infer its position and velocity is a supplement to GPS positioning.

Visual sensors: including cameras, infrared cameras, and other optical sensors, mainly used for visual navigation, obstacle avoidance, and real-time image capture.

Lidar: can be used to generate high-resolution terrain maps for 3D map construction, obstacle avoidance, and environmental perception.

Ultrasonic radar: can be used for close range obstacle detection, helping aircraft improve safety at low altitudes.

2. Environmental perception sensors

During low altitude flight, the aircraft needs to perceive real-time changes in the surrounding environment to ensure flight safety.

Air suspension temperature sensor: sensing the ambient temperature around low altitude aircraft, helping pilots understand changes in the flight environment.

Optical flow sensor: a sensor based on optical principles that can achieve precise position control by sensing changes in light.

MEMS microphone: used to reduce noise in manned spacecraft.

3. Status monitoring sensors

Sensors are also widely used for status monitoring of aircraft, including engine status, battery pack status, cargo status, and operational status of logistics equipment.

Pressure sensor: Real time detection of oil pressure in the fuel system, issuing an alarm in a timely manner when the oil pressure is abnormal.

Battery pack thermal runaway sensor: monitors parameters such as temperature and voltage of the battery pack, and promptly detects abnormal conditions such as overheating, overcharging, and overdischarging of the battery pack.

Vibration sensor: monitors the vibration of the aircraft and determines whether there are any loose or worn mechanical components.

Current sensor: monitors the current consumption of the device and determines whether the device is working properly.

4. Data collection sensors

During the inspection process, sensors are also used to collect various data, such as terrain, building structures, pipeline routes, etc.

Laser sensors, radar sensors: used to measure the height, distance, and other information of terrain and landforms.

Image sensor: used to capture image information such as the appearance of buildings and the distribution of pipelines, providing data support for subsequent analysis and processing.

summary

The rise of low altitude economy has brought huge development opportunities for sensor technology. Sensors, as the "eyes" and "ears" of low altitude aircraft, are responsible for collecting information about the external environment and are key components for achieving autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, status monitoring, and data collection functions of the aircraft. In the low altitude economy, sensor technology not only improves the performance and safety of aircraft, but also promotes innovation and development in related fields. In the future, with the further expansion of the low altitude economy and the continuous advancement of sensor technology, sensors will play an important role in more fields and contribute to the prosperity and development of the low altitude economy.

Source: Sensor Expert Network. If there is any infringement, please contact us for deletion