Confined space inspection drone Lidar

DJI Gold 5 DealerISO 9001:2015In-house integrationTraining included
Airborne 3D laser scanning · Collision-tolerant

Goslam X1 5G
SLAM System for Confined Space Inspection
for DJI Matrice 4

Fly where nobody can go!

A SLAM laser scanner in a collision-tolerant cage, plug & play on Matrice 4E and 4T: one connector, no external control box, no second controller. It flies inside culverts, tanks and underground structures and returns a colour point cloud while you are still airborne — accuracy down to 1 cm, 200,000 points per second. No scaffolding, no confined-space entry permit, no one exposed.

1 cm
Scanning
accuracy
200.000
Points
per second
360°×59°
Scanning
field of view
70 m
Scanning
radius
72 cm
Width with
collision cage

Figures as declared by the manufacturer. Scanning radius 40 m at 10% reflectivity, 70 m at 80%. Real-world accuracy and density depend on the geometry of the space, flight speed and surface conditions.

Compatibility

Plug & play on DJI Matrice 4E and Matrice 4T

The scanner plugs into the drone's dedicated connector: power, data, scanning commands and the light all run through the aircraft. No external control box, no second controller, no extra wiring. With the thermal 4T, the same sortie also brings home the radiometric data.

Matrice 4E Matrice 4T · thermal Direct plug-in No control boxes
The problem

LiDAR SLAM + RGB & Thermal Survey
with Drone for Confined Spaces

A service tunnel, a tank, a culvert, a basement after an incident. The data you need is always the same: real geometry, measurable, comparable over time. What changes — and what weighs on the budget — is the cost of getting an instrument in there.

⚠ Conventional confined-space survey

  • Work permit, atmospheric testing, PPE and a standby rescue team
  • Total station or static laser scanner, repositioned at every setup
  • Hours of setup per section, with manual registration of the scans
  • An operator exposed for the whole acquisition
  • Scaffolding, towers or rope access wherever the floor is impassable
  • Areas left unsurveyed because they cannot be reached safely
  • Data available only after processing, days later
  • Plant operations halted for the full duration of the job

✓ Drone SLAM System

  • No personnel entry: the drone goes in, the operator does not
  • SLAM on the move: no setups to place, no targets to lay out
  • A single flight over the whole length, registered automatically with no manual stitching
  • Pilot and crew stay outside, in a safe position
  • Collision-tolerant cage: flies tight passages without risking impact damage
  • Reaches heights and recesses no one can get to on foot
  • Colour point cloud visible in real time on the controller
  • Shutdown window cut to the length of the flight
Why it pays off

Four things that change in the way you work

This is not a high-tech version of the same job. It is a different economics of the operation: who goes in changes, how long it takes changes, when the data arrives changes, and so does the cost of setting everything else up.

The outcome

Real geometry you can measure

A dense colour point cloud of the whole volume, accurate to 1 cm. Not survey footage: a model you can take measurements from, cut sections through and compare campaign after campaign.

The certainty

You see it as you capture it

The cloud appears on the controller during the flight. You spot a missing section immediately and recover it in the same visit, instead of coming back the following week.

The time

From flight to data, with no wait

Fifteen minutes of flight per section, colour in real time and, in the connected version, a cloud that can be viewed and measured remotely while the capture is still running. Post-processing is there to refine the result, not to find out what you captured.

The effort

What you no longer have to organise

No entry permit, no rescue team, no scaffolding or rope access, no targets to lay out. Mounting on the drone is a plug-in, and break-point resume lets you swap a battery without losing alignment.

The system at work: flying indoors and capturing the point cloud.

How it works

From mounting to point cloud in four steps

The scanner plugs into the drone through a dedicated connector: power, data and commands all run through the aircraft, with no extra control box and no second controller to manage.

STEP 01

Plug in and cage

The scanner connects to the dedicated port on the Matrice 4E or 4T: plug & play, no tools, no control boxes. The quick-mount collision cage brings the overall envelope to 72×65×23 cm — the dimension that decides whether a passage is flyable or not.

STEP 02

Flight and SLAM

No GPS required. The SLAM algorithm builds the map as the drone advances, with a 360°×59° field of view and 200,000 points per second. The front light, controlled from the handset, illuminates the space for colour rendering.

STEP 03

Live check on the controller

The point cloud appears on the controller screen during the flight. The pilot judges the coverage achieved and corrects the flight path on the spot, with no external equipment.

STEP 04

Delivery and post-processing

Data recorded on board to 128 GB of storage and, in the connected version, streamed in real time. Post-processing optimises density and accuracy for measurement work.

What sets it apart

Six things that decide whether the survey happens at all

In a confined space the sensor datasheet is not what makes the difference. The envelope does, and the light, and being able to make a mistake without breaking anything, and knowing you captured everything.

Drone with collision cage flying close between the walls of a narrow rocky space
Collision cage

Collision-tolerant by design

The quick-mount cage encloses the drone on every side. In a culvert or inside a tank, touching a wall is not a remote possibility: it is the reason most airborne confined-space surveys are never even attempted. Here contact is designed for, not feared.

  • Overall envelope 72 × 65 × 23 cm, cage included
  • Flight through tight passages with no risk of impact damage
  • Less pressure on the pilot, flight paths closer to the surfaces
Colour point cloud of a complex interior, with walls, fittings and flooring clearly readable
Real-time colour

Not a grey cloud to decipher

A 5 MP global-shutter image sensor fused with the laser: the cloud comes out in colour already, at uniform density. Structural features are recognisable at a glance, with no separate colourisation stage.

  • Camera-laser fusion with synchronised colour output
  • 5 MP global shutter sensor: no motion distortion
  • Usable for quick identification in the field, not only for surveying
Controller held by the operator showing the point cloud captured in real time during the flight
On-board preview

You know what you captured before you land

The cloud is visible on the controller screen while the drone works. That is the difference between going home with the data and going home hoping the data is complete — and, if something is missing, between reflying one pass and rescheduling the whole trip.

  • Live display with no additional equipment
  • Flight path corrected during the capture itself
  • Light and scanning controls handled from the same controller
Drone with collision cage flying inside a tunnel, with the scanning grid projected on the walls
Break-point resume

A large space, one single cloud

When the scene cannot be covered in one flight, scanning resumes from the break point. Swap a battery or stop whenever you need to: the results align by themselves, in real time and in post-processing, with no manual stitching.

  • Unlimited number of resumed scans
  • Automatic registration, no stitching afterwards
  • Complex spaces covered as one single survey
The drone's front light switched on in a completely dark space, the beam lighting up the scene
Controllable lighting

Darkness stops being a constraint

A dedicated front light, adjustable from the controller. Underground and in enclosed volumes it does two jobs at once: showing where you are flying, and producing clean imagery for the colour rendering of the cloud.

  • Lighting controlled from the handset
  • Safe flight and sharp imagery in unlit spaces
  • Operating range −20 °C to +50 °C
Red laser pointing from the drone at a ground control point for georeferencing
Laser control points

Real coordinates without laying out targets

Reference points are captured by laser pointing: the point information is recorded quickly and then used for coordinate conversion and plane positioning. No targets to carry in, lay out and collect again in a space nobody enters.

  • Fast point sampling directly in the field
  • Usable for coordinate conversion and reference planes
  • Less kit to move, less time on site
Coverage

360° around, 59° vertically

The field of view is why one flight is enough where dozens of setups would otherwise be needed. The sensor captures the whole ring around the drone as it advances: walls, crown and floor all enter the same pass.

  • Field of view 360° × 59°
  • Rate 200,000 points per second
  • Radius 40 m at 10% reflectivity · 70 m at 80%
  • Declared accuracy down to 1 cm
  • Flight endurance of roughly 15 minutes per section
The system's field of view: 360 degrees around the sensor axis and 59 degrees vertically, with the collision cage enclosing the drone

360° × 59° field of view, with the collision cage enclosing the drone.

Specifications

Technical data

Figures as declared by the manufacturer, for the scanning system excluding the aircraft. The final configuration is defined together at the design stage.

Compatibility
Matrice 4E · Matrice 4Tdirect plug-in, plug & play
Technology
SLAMNo GPS required
Field of view
360° × 59°
Accuracy
down to 1 cm
Rate
200,000 points/sec
Scanning radius
40 m @ 10%70 m @ 80% reflectivity
Image sensor
5 MP global shutter
Processing
Real-time colourplus post-processing
Preview
On the controller
Dimensions
72 × 65 × 23 cmcollision cage included
Flight endurance
approx. 15 minutes
Operating temperature
−20 / +50 °C
On-board storage
128 GBTF card
Break-point resume
Supported
5G transmission
Availableconnected version
Light and controls
From the controller
Operating environments
Indoors, tunnels, tanksunderground spaces, culverts
The deliverable

From point cloud to a model people can use

Capture is half the job. The other half is producing data that someone, in the office or on site, can actually use to make a decision.

  • Colour point cloud, uniform density, ready for measurement
  • High-precision post-processing for survey work
  • 3D Gaussian reconstruction with a dedicated viewer
  • In the connected version: remote viewing and measurement during capture
  • Comparison between successive campaigns along the same route

Colour point cloud and measurement tools on the captured model.

Applications

Eight environments where conventional surveying costs too much

The criterion is always the same: an enclosed volume, little light, difficult or dangerous access, and the need for geometry that is measurable and repeatable over time.

Drone with collision cage flying inside a railway tunnel, with the scan of the crown overlaid

Tunnels and galleries

The full length in one pass, with campaign-to-campaign comparison to track deformation and spalling.

Drone flying inside a cylindrical tank, with the point cloud of the circular wall

Tanks and silos

Internal volume, wall condition and residual geometry without spending the time a confined-space entry requires.

Drone flying in a service culvert between pipework, with the 3D reconstruction of the ducts

Basements and culverts

Plant rooms, shafts, ducts and inspection passages that neither a person nor a wheeled vehicle can reach.

Drone with collision cage flying inside a mine drift cut into the rock

Mines and quarries

Production drifts, faces and stopes, with volumes computed straight from the cloud.

Drone flying under the roof of an industrial shed with a steel structure

Industrial interiors

Sheds, plant and production lines: as-built survey for revamping and layout work.

Drone flying above the roof of a large storage tank, with the point cloud of the surface

Stockpiles and storage

Volumetric measurement of covered stockpiles, bulk materials and enclosed warehouses.

Drone lighting and scanning a partially collapsed concrete structure, with a false-colour point cloud

Emergency and post-incident

Unstable structures after fire, collapse or flooding: the geometry before crews go in.

Drone flying inside a historic stone nave, with the scan of the piers and vaults

Heritage and archaeology

Crypts, vaults, hypogea and historic structures, surveyed without scaffolding and without contact.

Got a space nobody can survey?

Describe the geometry and the access constraints. We will tell you whether the system can get in there, with which package, and what the real limits are at your site — before any quotation.

Packages

Two packages: with or without the drone

If there is already a Matrice 4E or 4T in the fleet, all you need is the scanning kit. Otherwise start from the complete combo with the Matrice 4T, thermal camera included. At the demo we work out together which of the two fits your spaces and your survey frequency.

You already have the drone

SLAM Scanner Kit

For operators who already fly a Matrice 4E or 4T. It plugs into the drone's connector and adds 3D laser scanning in confined spaces, with all the processing software included.

Price on requestQuoted per configuration
  • 1× SLAM 3D LiDAR scanner with integrated 5G module
  • 1× Quick-mount collision cage
  • 1× Card reader
  • 1× 128 GB TF card
  • 8× M3×6 hand-tightened fixing screws
  • 2× Spare soft rubber pads
  • 1× Lens cleaning cloth
  • 1× Point-cloud post-processing software licence
  • 1× Desktop processing software, standard edition
  • 1× 3D viewer
  • 1× Hard-shell safety transport case
  • Drone not included
Go to the shop
★ Complete solution
Ready to work

Matrice 4T Combo

Everything you need to produce surveys from day one, thermal camera included: drone, scanner, batteries, guards and operational training. One supply, one point of contact.

Price on requestQuoted per configuration
  • Everything in the SLAM Scanner Kit, plus:
  • DJI Matrice 4T
  • 3× Flight batteries
  • 1× Battery charger
  • 1× 360° propeller guard kit
  • 1× Transport case
  • 1× 4-hour operational training*
Go to the shop

* Operational training. Four hours alongside our technicians, at our Rimini facility or at your own site: mounting, calibration, a first guided capture and verification of the settings for your type of environment. Grenke operating lease available over 24 to 60 months, and supply through Italian public procurement (MEPA) for public bodies.

The drone · optional

Matrice 4T: the same flight brings the thermal data home too

The scanning kit works on both the Matrice 4E and the 4T. If the drone is still to be bought, choosing the 4T adds something geometric survey alone cannot give you: a radiometric thermal camera on board. Inside a tunnel or a tank that means walking out with the point cloud and the thermal map, without a second visit.

The Matrice 4T at a glance: multi-camera gimbal with thermal imager, NIR auxiliary light and laser rangefinder.

Geometric data

Where it is, how big, how it is built

The colour point cloud from the SLAM scanner: real geometry, sections, volumes and comparison between successive campaigns. It is the basis on which measurements are taken.

Thermal data

Where something is wrong

The radiometric thermal camera reads from −20 to +550 °C to ±2 °C: water ingress, thermal bridges, leaks, hot spots on switchgear and motors, traces of standing water. Anomalies invisible to the eye, and to the point cloud.

Thermal camera
Uncooled VOx, 640 × 512up to 1280 × 1024 @ 30 fps in super-resolution
Temperature range
−20 °C / +550 °C±2 °C or ±2% accuracy in High Gain
Optics
Wide, medium tele and tele48 MP · hybrid zoom up to 112×
Laser rangefinder
up to 1800 mat 20% reflectivity, 1 m blind zone
NIR auxiliary light
up to 100 mvision in total darkness
Endurance
up to 49 minutes
Operating range
up to 25 kmO4 Enterprise transmission
Take-off weight
1219 gwith standard propellers
Ingress rating
IP55
Class marking
C2 markingsubcategory A2

Figures as declared by DJI, for the aircraft in standard configuration. With the scanner and the collision cage fitted, endurance and flight performance are reduced: the operational reference for a scanning section is roughly 15 minutes. The Matrice 4E remains the right choice when thermal is not needed. Compare Matrice 4T and 4E →

Why DroneBase

The system is the starting point, not the project

Buying a scanner is easy. Coming away with a usable survey, from a difficult space, with people who know what they are doing, is another matter.

01

Assessment of the space

Geometry, minimum sections, access points, hazardous atmosphere, lighting. This is where the honest answer comes from on what can be surveyed and what cannot.

02

Configuration and commissioning

Mounting, calibration, a first field capture with your own staff, and verification of the settings for your type of environment.

03

Training and regulation

Operational training, support with EASA/ENAC documentation, D-Flight registration and help with the mandatory insurance policy.

04

Ongoing support

A dedicated technical contact, software updates, spare parts and support over time. DJI Gold 5 Dealer, ISO 9001:2015.

Frequently asked questions

What we get asked before the purchase

Which drones does it fit, and how complicated is it?

The kit fits the DJI Matrice 4E and Matrice 4T and is fully plug & play: it goes into the drone's dedicated connector, and power, data, scanning commands and the light all run through it. No external control box, no second controller, no wiring to build. With the Matrice 4T you also bring home the thermal data from the same sortie.

Does the scan need GPS to work?

No. Positioning is built by the SLAM algorithm from the sensor's own perception during flight: that is exactly why the system works in tunnels, underground and inside enclosed structures where no satellite signal reaches.

How narrow a passage can it fly through?

The overall envelope with the collision cage is 72 × 65 × 23 cm. The usable clearance has to be assessed case by case, because beyond the cross-section what matters is protruding obstacles, airflow and the manoeuvring margin the pilot needs. It is one of the first things we check together.

What accuracy do you actually get in the field?

The manufacturer declares accuracy down to 1 cm. The real figure depends on the geometry of the space, flight speed, surface reflectivity and the quality of the post-processing. For applications with strict metric requirements, a trial in your specific environment before purchase is worth doing.

Are fifteen minutes of flight enough for a long tunnel?

For one section, yes; for a long stretch you work in several passes. Break-point resume lets you stop, swap a battery and pick up from where you left off: the scans align automatically, with no manual stitching and no limit on the number of resumptions.

Do you need a specialist pilot?

You need a pilot certified under EU Regulation 2019/947 who is comfortable flying in tight spaces. Managing the scan, on the other hand, is built into the controller: no second operator and no extra control box. Staff training is part of the delivery process.

Is the data compatible with our software?

The output is a point cloud, so it fits the CAD and BIM workflows you already run. The exact formats and export options depend on the software configuration chosen: we check them against your workflow before the order.

Is there a version with real-time transmission?

Yes. In the connected configuration the colour cloud can be viewed and measured remotely while the capture is still running, through the dedicated cloud platform. It is the mode built for emergency coordination and for supervising works from a distance.

Can we try it before deciding?

Yes. An operational demo at our Rimini facility, or directly at your site, in the actual space you need to survey. It is the quickest way to find out whether the section is flyable and what quality of data you get in your conditions.

Book a demo or a call

Let us talk about your space

Tell us what you need to survey and under what access constraints. We will tell you whether the system can get in there, which package makes sense and what the real limits are — before talking about price. We come back to you within 48 hours.

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