39 WorldWide Drilling Resource® JANUARY 2021 Drone-Based Geotechnical Applications Compiled by Editorial Staff, WorldWide Drilling Resource® A nearly $2 million project headed by partners EMerald Geomodelling, SkyTEM (research and development team based in Denmark), University of Southern Denmark, and Next Generation Internet (NGI) now has the funding needed to back the 30-month development and testing of a new system for drones. Backing this effort is Eurostars, a program connecting EUREKA and the European Commission, as well as supporting innovative projects headed by research and development teams. One of the major factors in most infrastructure projects over cost by 20-50% is a lack of comprehensive geological knowledge. Addressing this problem, EMerald and SkyTEM plan to advance the use of drone-based geotechnical investigations. Today’s geoscanning is mostly based on the use of helicopters with high cost and low resolution, but the future plan is to use drones, also known as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), integrating high-resolution ground data using UAV machine-learning-based information synthesis. Drones can fly much closer to the ground, increasing accuracy of resolution and measurements. Developers say low-cost drones, as opposed to half-a-ton helicopter sensors, will surpass traditional workflow models. After development and testing, these partners aim to make drones a new standard for any geotechnical investigation. Dronebased systems have already been used successfully for rock-fall monitoring in high-risk locations, sinkhole identification, linear corridor inspection to prevent blockages and spills, and construction management reports and analysis. Other benefits of UAVs include reduction of high-risk operations, reduction of labor and data gathering costs, access to areas not easily seen, views of the same area on multiple occasions, and continuous improvement as the technology evolves. In Houston, an improved version of Heavy Construction Systems Specialists (HCSS) Aerial, a cloud-based program allowing continuous monitoring of infrastructure construction projects, is now ready for use. Providing accuracy of 1/10 foot on both large and small areas, this program can be employed on a drone to track progress by comparing 3D models of the jobsite on different dates and to match with the original design. Planning for the future, HCSS will integrate some of its products, including a drone app to map flights, automated construction site data capture, and automatic identification of common elements and objects. This will allow a smoother workflow and maximize time use in tracking, analysis, and design comparison. Low-flying drone. Photo courtesy of A. Denunzio. C&G
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