May 18, 2016
New Trends in Drones and the Surveying Field
Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are no longer just the domain of Christmas presents, secret agents hijinks, or speedy Amazon deliveries.
For land surveyors, employing drones can save a lot of time and money. UAVs have the potential to transform the construction and energy sectors, so it pays to be up to date with the latest trends.
Trend 1: More Countries Approving The Use of Drones
Canada allows the use of UAVs for business as well as recreational purposes, leading to skyrocketing drone usage in many sectors. New regulations may come into effect in 2016, and any changes would be announced by Transport Canada.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently authorized the commercial operation of UAVs in the United States, a decision that allowed industry leaders British Petroleum (BP) to being using drones in earnest.
Trend 2: Smaller, Lighter Drones in the Oil & Gas Industries
BP first began to use drones for inspecting their extensive infrastructure of pipelines in Alaska in 2012, to accommodate for the difficult terrain and as a way to decrease safety risks.
But since the FAA ruling, drone technology is transforming the way they do business, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage as early adopters.
To inspect the existing pipeline structures, BP uses a simple quadcopter that cuts inspection time down dramatically. While there is a “pilot” on site with the drone, other engineers kilometers away can access information and images in real time. This allows them to address problems long before they become costly catastrophes.
BP is also using a true fixed-wing drone to scan and survey pipelines. While the drone is small – only 1.8m x 2m and weighing a mere 7 kilos – it can completely scan up to 2400 square miles from one point.
This is not only an efficient way to survey, but it decreases the chance of work-related accidents in the dangerous Arctic terrain. The UAV uses LIDAR (think of it as RADAR with lasers) to map the area, inspect field infrastructure, and even check on the safety of the hundreds of miles of roads that BP must maintain to manage their operations.
Smaller, lighter drones cost less to run and are easier to transport. With advanced materials like the ultra-light Kevlar becoming more readily available, drones are likely to keep shrinking in future.
Trend 3: Fully-Autonomous Drones in the Construction Industry
Another company that is using (and creating) drone and drone data technology is SkyCatch. One of their specialties is in the construction industry, where surveyors need to map data that may be changing on a nearly daily basis.
The new trend here is the “fully-autonomous” part. Unlike the BP drones, which use pilots on site, the Skycatch drone – also a quadcopter – is able to automatically determine its flight path, scan the job site, and land itself. Users simply program the site area from their Internet browser and launch the drone from the “black box” that serves as its hanger.
These drones are extremely useful in the construction industry because new 2D and 3D images of the entire site can be created every day. This allows for easy cross-referencing against earlier surveys of the site to compare project progression or change caused by natural events such as flooding, logging, or crop growth.
To see some great videos and more examples of drones being used in construction, architecture, and engineering, check out James Benham’s post from 2015.
Given their potential to even further increase efficiency and save time in the field, it’s likely we’ll be seeing more fully-autonomous drones in future.
Trend 4: Advances in Mapping and Modeling Software
All the drones in the world cannot help land surveyors if we aren’t able to understand the hundreds of images that they can take.
Happily, mapping software is improving alongside UAV technology, allowing users to create some truly astonishing models – like this 3D image of a castle generated by drone mapping software company PIX4D.
PIX4D offers a stand-alone software that integrates with the vast array of imaging technology on the market to produce a highly accurate image – the so-called “big picture”. The most amazing thing is that PIX4D can then render that image in true 3D in the virtual world. This allows users to view an entire site onscreen and understand exactly what steps may be necessary for development.
With mapping software progressing hand-in-hand with data collection by drones, understanding these technical programs (or working with someone who does!) is going to become increasingly important.
The Sky’s the Limit
Today, we’ve touched on 4 trends that we think are particularly important for land surveyors and the sectors we work with: approval and regulation of drone use in Canada and the US, the rise of smaller, lighter drones, fully-autonomous drones, and advances in modelling software.
Of course, the construction and oil and gas sectors aren’t the only industries benefitting from drones. From real estate, to mining, to agriculture, UAVs are becoming more and more important.
Engaging with this new technology in the surveying field offers us a fantastic way to add huge value to the people that we serve – answering questions and getting our job done faster and more efficiently than ever before.
If you’d like to find out more about drone technology, we’d love to chat with you. Request a quote, get in touch by email (info@lnldt.ca), or call us at 780.488.9064.