Here a vehicle used to carry a sensor. An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a powered, fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research (from wikipedia).
To gain a wider view, we use aircraft at altitudes ranging up to approximately 20 km. Depending on the type of aerial survey and the weight of equipment and survey costs, we can choose from a variety of vehicles. Fixed-wing aircraft or airplanes are used for thermal scanning and a systematic photo-coverage for topographic mapping, land titling projects, and the like. Aerial survey cameras are heavy and they are fixed to a stabilized mount set in a hole in the floor of the aircraft. Most survey airplanes fly lower than 8 km but higher than 1000 m. They can fly as slow as 150 km h−1, but even at that speed image quality is already affected by motion blur unless the camera is fitted with a compensation device.
When mounted on an aircraft, a laser rangefinder measures at very short time intervals the distance to the terrain. Combining a laser rangefinder with sensors that can measure the position and altitude measuring by three sensors of the aircraft (GPS & IMU) makes it possible to create a model of the terrain surface.
aeroplane (informally plane)