Drone Surveys Improve Automated Road Construction
Automated machine guidance (AMG) links construction
equipment with on board computers that use data from 3-D models and GPS to guide
operations. The Oregon Department of Transportation is exploring surveying with
unmanned aircraft for construction projects using an Aibotix Aibot X6 Hexacopter. The
hexacopter can fly programmed flight paths autonomously and carry 4.4 pounds of
cameras and sensors.
Ron Singh, chief of surveys at ODOT, is using the drone to
generate 3-D maps from orthorectified imagery that accounts for topographical
variations in the surface of the Earth and the tilt of the drone. Specifically,
they produce digital terrain models via structure-from-motion technologies that
estimate 3-D structures from multiple, overlapping 2-D images.
“From my perspective, a drone is like a tripod for
surveying, only you can place it 200 feet in the air over a particular spot,”
Singh said.
Singh brings a unique drone usage skill set and is known to
have a very progressive approach towards AMG and drone use. Singh says AMG
technology is dramatically improving construction projects in Oregon. “One
contractor, K&E Excavating, has invested heavily in AMG,” Singh said. “In
2010, they were only getting a few projects from ODOT, but now they’re getting
almost every project there is because they can get their bids lower. They’re
coming up with bids lower than our engineers’ estimates.”
How does he do it? Read more on how he's using unmanned
systems in Charles Choi's article "Drone Surveys Improve Automated Road
Construction" published in Inside Unmanned Systems.com.
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