Drone News & Articles

Oil refineries use hydrogen to lower the sulfur content of diesel fuel. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA; Washington, DC, United States; www.eia.gov), refinery demand for hydrogen has increased as demand for diesel fuel has risen both domestically and internationally and as sulfur-content regulations have become more stringent. Much of the hydrogen used at refineries is produced on-site.

To do so, a process such as steam-methane reforming is used in which methane is mixed with steam at high temperatures in catalyst-filled pipes resulting in a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and a small amount of carbon dioxide. At the end of this process, purification to obtain hydrogen is accomplished by removing the carbon monoxide with a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system.

COMPLEX AND DANGEROUS

“Oil refineries are complex and dangerous environments”. says Ian Hannah, Co-Founder of Industrial Skyworks, Toronto, ON, Canada (https://industrialskyworks.com) “At the heart of hydrogen production, for example, is the ‘Radiant Box,’ an industrial furnace that reaches temperatures up to 4,000° F.”

Contained inside the Radiant Box are specialized pipes with high Chromium content designed to withstand such extreme temperatures. In operation, burners heat the tubes which then heat the steam-methane mix inside the pipes. In many vertical furnace designs, these 40 ft. tubes are placed approximately 1 ft. apart at a distance away from the refractory wall of the boiler so that a uniform temperature is maintained during production.

Recently, during the construction of a new Radiant Box at a large oil refinery, a possible manufacturing error was noticed in the construction of one of the pipes. The company required all the other 143 pipes used in the Radiant Box to be inspected, since even a small nick in a pipe could have disastrous consequences at such very high temperatures.

This would have been a straightforward task, except for the fact that the 40 ft. pipes were already installed in the building. The construction project was placed on hold until all the pipes could be assured to be free of defects. The traditional solution to this problem would be to erect scaffolding on each side of the box. To do this, the scaffolding would need to be coated with plastic to avoid any metal contact with the chromium alloy pipes.

This would have taken weeks of work and made more difficult because access to the building was extremely restricted through a small hatch measuring 2 ft. x 3 ft. leading to a very small walkway between three columns of pipes. Thus, the scaffolding would need to be entered piece by piece through the hatch and then assembled.

While white light LEDs are used in the drone to illuminate the pipes being inspected, like an aircraft, the drone features red LED lights on the port side and green LEDs on the starboard side so that the operator can understand the orientation of the drone as it flies.

DRONES TAKE OFF

Rather than take this approach, Industrial SkyWorks proposed a faster, more cost-effective solution. Using an Elios drone from Flyability (Paudex, Switzerland; www.flyability.com) equipped with a 1920 x 1080, 30 fps camera, it would be possible to capture video of all of the pipes safely without the need of scaffolding. These images are then recorded to an on-board SD memory card housed in the payload head of the drone. Image data can also be streamed to the operator at a lower resolution since the Elios drone integrates a Lightbridge 2 wireless controller from DJI (Shenzhen, China; www.dji.com). This allows images to be transmitted from the drone to the controller over a 2.4 GHz link frequency band.

“This wireless communication system does not require any special authorization to operate even in the most complex and confined spaces,” says Hannah, “and the maximum range of the drone is unimportant since it only operates a few hundred feet at maximum from the drone’s pilot.”

To protect the drone and the pipes being inspected, the drone is protected by a carbon frame. This frame is decoupled on three axes from the drone using a gimbal mechanism that allows the Elios to remain stable in the event of any possible collision. While protecting the drone and the structures to be examined, the camera still provides clear images of the pipes being inspected.

“While white light LEDs are used in the drone to illuminate the pipes being inspected,” says Hannah, “it is important for the drone pilot to know the orientation of the drone as it flies.” Thus, like an aircraft, the drone features red LED lights on the port side and green LEDs on the starboard side (Figure 1b). The drone pilot can then capture images at known orientations, ensuring that all areas of the pipes in the Radiant Box are imaged.

BIG DATA

In addition to displaying the live stream from the drone, Flyability’s Cockpit software displays live telemetry data with relative headings, altitude, and camera tilt orientation. To analyze the images being inspected from drones without cages, operators can use Industrial Skyworks’ own BlueVu inspection software.

“Traditionally, the problem with collecting large amounts of image data is that there have not been any tools to efficiently review and gain insight from these images. Instead, such analysis has involved manual, time consuming work,” says Hannah. To overcome this, BlueVu uses an optimization algorithm that automatically organizes, analyzes, and selects the most relevant images from these large data streams.

An operator pilots the drone in dark conditions.

When non-caged drones are equipped with microbolometer-based infrared cameras from FLIR Systems (Wilsonville, OR, USA; www.flir.com), BlueVu software can be used to identify problems such as energy leaks. In inspecting the pipes within the Radiant Box, the HD camera captured numerous visible images within the space of three days. In these images, the pipes can be visualized, as well as the main spar of the drone and its surrounding cage.

Although the drone’s camera incorporates a wide-angle lens with a horizontal field of view (FOV) of 130° and a vertical FOV of 75°, captured images were of sufficient resolution to identify any potential defects in the pipes.

“In 3Q 2019,” says Hannah, “Industrial Skyworks will be releasing an updated version of the BlueVu software that will use a neural network-based approach to automate the identification and classification of problems within images such as corrosion and cracks.”

By using the drone to capture images of the pipes within the Radiant Box, Industrial SkyWorks completed the inspection task required by the vendor within three days, after which the manufacturer was provided with HD images enabling them to determine the condition of each pipe. This meant that work at the facility could resume weeks ahead of schedule without the dangers of traditional methods—such as erecting scaffolding—that could have exposed workers to unnecessary risks.

According to Hannah, this approach was between 3-5 times less expensive than using conventional approaches. Interestingly, the new rules for non-hobbyist small unmanned aircraft operations included in Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, cover a broad spectrum of commercial uses for drones weighing less than 55 lbs. A summary of these regulations can be found on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website (Washington, DC, USA; www.faa.gov) at //bit.ly/VSD-FAA.

UAVs and infrared cameras image wildlife behavior

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and thermal cameras are being increasingly used by researchers for both wildlife detection and censusing.

To detect sea turtle nests on a Florida beach, for example, Eric Becker of the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF; Woking, Surrey, UK; www.wwf.org.uk) has used a Duo Pro R thermal imaging camera from FLIR (Wilsonville, OR, USA; www.flir.com) that combines a 336 x 256 microbolometer-based thermal image detector and a 4k color camera in conjunction with a Phantom 2 quadcopter drone from DJI (Shenzhen, China; www.dji.com).

Working with the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, Becker located two neighboring loggerhead sea turtle nests that were weeks from hatching. Attaching the camera to the drone, images of the nests were taken before sunrise at the rate of one frame per second. Images were captured as radiometric JPEG (RJPEG) data that have temperature data tagged to each pixel. To extract this data, the RJPEGs were downloaded to a PC and, using FLIR’s software, a list of temperature readings was extracted. In the aerial images, a temperature difference can be seen between nesting and non-nesting areas. 

On our final day in Pittsburgh, we find ourselves in a decommissioned coal mine. Just northeast of the city proper, Tour-Ed’s owners run field trips and tours during the warmer months, despite the fact that the mine’s innards run a constant 50 degrees or so, year round.

With snow still melted just beyond the entrance, a team of students from Carnegie Mellon and Oregon State University are getting a pair of robots ready for an upcoming competition. The small team is one of a dozen or so currently competing in DARPA’s  Subterranean Challenge.

The multi-year SUbT competition is designed to “explore new approaches to rapidly map, navigate, search, and exploit complex underground environments, including human-made tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks.” In particular, teams are tasked with search and rescue missions in underground structures, ranging from mines to caves to subway stations.

The goal of the $2 million challenge is to design a system capable of navigating complex underground terrains, in case of cave-ins or other disasters. The robots are created to go where human rescuers can’t — or, at very least, shouldn’t.

The CMU team’s solution features multiple robots, with a four-wheeled rover and a small, hobbyist-style drone taking center state. “Our system consists of ground robots that will be able to track and follow the terrain,” says CMU’s Steve Willits, who serves as an adviser on the project. “We also have an unmanned aerial vehicle consisting of a hexacopter. It’s equipped with all of the instrumentation that it will need to explore various area of the mine.”

The rover uses a combination of 3D cameras and lidar to navigate and map the environment, while looking for humans amid the rubble. Should it find itself unable to move, due to debris, small passage ways or a man-made obstacle like stairs, the drone is designed to lift off from the rear and continue the search.

All the while, the rover drops ultra-rugged Wi-Fi repeaters off its rear like a breadcrumb trail, extending its signal in the process. Most of this is still in the early stages. While the team was able to demonstrate the rover and drone in action, it still hasn’t mastered a method for getting them to work in tandem.

Testing the robots will begin in September, with the Tunnel Circuit. That’s followed in March 2020 by the man-made Urban Circuit and then a Cave Circuit the following September. A final event will be held in September 2022.

On a road trip through Xinjiang in 2012, Peng Bin saw how ageing farmers laboured in vast cotton fields with heavy tanks of pesticides strapped to their backs, spraying the chemicals without any protection.

“I could smell the acrid stench of pesticide from afar and I thought maybe my unmanned aircraft could help,” said Peng, 37, founder and chief executive of XAG, one of China’s biggest makers of agricultural drones. “At least drone spraying would limit the farmers’ exposure to the chemicals.”

It is also more cost-effective, an important consideration for the labour-starved agricultural industry in China. In general, a drone can do the same spraying job in 1/30th the time, and the more challenging the terrain, the more advantage a drone has.

Soon after the trip, Peng focused on producing drones for industrial use, instead of the consumer devices that hobbyists use to take holiday videos. That move proved prescient as demand for pesticide and fertiliser spraying soared with the decline in farm labour. Young people would rather work in factories, or wait tables and clean homes in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, than toil in the fields.

For Peng, his chosen career marks a full circle of sorts for his family. Peng’s parents moved from the countryside to Sanming city in China’s southern Fujian province early on.

Peng himself was born and raised in the city. A computer science graduate from XiDian University in Xian, he worked for Microsoft for two years before starting a business in 2007 making consumer drones. He renamed the company XAG last year.

The company estimates it accounts for more than half of agricultural drone sales in China, serving more than 1.2 million farmers. XAG has 27,000 drones in operation, most of which were sold to companies that offer pesticide-spraying services. The company made more than 100 million yuan (US$15 million) in profit last year, Peng said, without being more specific.

Boosting agricultural productivity is a top priority for China, which wants to lessen the country’s reliance on food imports. The government has set a target to produce 90 per cent of its own farming equipment by 2020, and the sector is one of the priorities in Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” strategic industrial plan.

Competition in agricultural drones is expected to heat up, with DJI, the world’s biggest maker of commercial drones, also identifying the sector for expansion.

The Shenzhen-based company sees its latest drones, including the Mavic 2 and Agras MG-1, as being squarely aimed at the industrial segment, which accounts for more than half of the global US$9 billion drone market.

A farmer looks at a drone spraying pesticide in his field in Jixian County, north China's Shanxi Province, in 2017. Photo: Xinhua

“One of the key areas for the enterprise business is [the use of drones] in agriculture,” Bill Chen, DJI’s enterprise partnership manager, said in an interview in January. “As the world’s population keeps growing we have to find more hi-tech ways to meet the rising demand for food.”

To stay ahead of the competition, Peng is looking beyond China for markets for his agricultural drones. XAG is now in 22 countries and regions, though those markets remain small in terms of contribution to revenue.

Like the Xinjiang road trip, Peng recently undertook another long drive, this time across the US, to get a first-hand understanding of the market.

Last month, Peng flew to Los Angeles with co-founder Justin Gong, rented an Infiniti QX80 SUV and went from the wine country in California’s Napa Valley, through Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. They stopped at Kansas City and St Louis in Missouri before pushing on to New York.

During the eight-day drive, they visited farmers and showed them demo videos of XAG’s drones, like travelling salesmen. Peng said some farmers showed interest and asked where they could buy the drones or send them for repair. One farmer invited them to his land and asked if the drones could monitor the crops and help him save on water, he said.

The drone maker is capitalising on China’s drive to boost agricultural productivity as the country seeks to lessen its reliance on food imports. Photo: Handout

The drone maker is capitalising on China’s drive to boost agricultural productivity as the country seeks to lessen its reliance on food imports. Photo: Handout

“Great technology will benefit people globally no matter how competitive the two countries get with each other,” Peng said, when asked if the US-China trade war featured in his conversations with American farmers.

For now, the US is a small market for XAG, with China still accounting for 90 per cent of its revenue.

Besides drones, Peng plans to develop other agricultural technology. XAG is testing driverless mini tractors and robotic arms for picking fruit and tea leaves, and aims to introduce the products in 2021.

The ultimate aim, said Peng, is to reshape farming into a respected profession like medicine or engineering. The average annual disposable income of a rural resident in China was 14,617 yuan (US$2,443), or 37 per cent of a city dweller, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Demand for agricultural drones is rising because of labour shortages in China. Agricultural drones are used for crop monitoring as well as pesticide spraying. Photo: Lea Li

Peng concedes it will take some time before China can erase the stigma of being a farmer in the country.

“Compared with overseas market like the US and Japan, our technology application into agriculture still lags far behind,” he said. “In the US, farmers have better lives than in China, from my observation.”

“Their farmland is well managed with technical equipment. The farmers are well-dressed and speak well. They seem to enjoy their lives more.”

It takes a great deal of skill, concentration and mental toughness to quickly drive a car around a race track. And even among professional drivers, there are always a few special souls who rise to the top of their field. After watching the above footage of a drone following driver Matt Field's Chevy Corvette during the Formula Drift event in Long Beach, we think the same thing must apply to drone pilots.

Johnny Schaer, better known as Johnny FPV, filmed the scene using a custom-built racing drone with a GoPro Hero7 Black attached and recording in 4K. The resulting views are nothing short of spectacular, with smoke-filled close-up shots of Field's Corvette in motion as it sways back and forth across the track that would be impossible to capture any other way. Seriously, watch the video and remember that this is real-life footage, not something generated by a computer.

We've seen Johnny's skills put to good use in the past. There's plenty of sweet first-person footage on his YouTube channel, a lot of it focusing on automotive pursuits. But there are also videos featuring all manner of action sports and wildlife. It's breathtaking stuff, and it leaves us with the feeling that this kind of footage could breathe new life into the motorsports realm.

In a remote field south of Yangon, Myanmar, tiny mangrove saplings are now roughly 20 inches tall. Last September, the trees were planted by drones. It’s early proof of technology that could help restore forests at the pace needed to fight climate change.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” says Irina Fedorenko, cofounder of Biocarbon Engineering, the startup that makes the drones. The right combination of species and specific environmental conditions made the restoration work. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

The startup, which also uses drones to plant trees and grasses at abandoned mines in Australia and on sites in other parts of the world, is working with a nonprofit in Myanmar called Worldview International Foundation. To date, the nonprofit has worked with villagers to plant trees by hand. The project began in 2012, after the government began opening the country’s borders to international business. More than six million trees have been planted so far, and the nonprofit plans to plant another four million by the end of 2019. But it also recognizes that humans can’t easily cover the amount of land that could potentially be restored.

Within three states, roughly 350,000 hectares of coastal forest needs to be restored—an area nearly as large as Rhode Island. With about 5,000 trees able to grow in a hectare, that works out to more than a billion trees. “Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” says Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of Worldview Impact, a separate nonprofit partnering with the Worldview International Foundation on its work in Myanmar. Two operators working with 10 drones can theoretically plant 400,000 trees in a day.

The drones first fly over an area to map it, collecting data about the topography and soil condition that can be combined with satellite data and analyzed to determine the best locations to plant each seed. Then the drone fires biodegradable pods—filled with a germinated seed and nutrients—into the ground. For the process to succeed in a mangrove forest, several conditions need to be right; if the tide comes in unexpectedly, for example, the seeds could wash away. In tests, Biocarbon Engineering has looked at which species and environmental conditions perform best.

If drones do begin to replant entire forests, humans will still play a critical role. That’s in part because some seeds don’t fit inside the pods. But people living nearby also need a reason to leave the trees standing. “The project in Myanmar is all about community development and enabling people to care for trees, providing them with jobs, and making environmental restoration in a way that it’s profitable for people,” says Fedorenko. “The forest didn’t vanish by itself—the forest was cut down by local people.”

Roughly half of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost. The trees, with twisted roots that reach underwater along coastlines, can store more carbon than trees on land. Mangrove deforestation is responsible for 24 million tons of CO2 emissions each year, according to a 2018 study. They also provide a barrier in storms; when a cyclone hit Myanmar in 2008, killing more than 100,000 people, the impact was also worse because there weren’t as many trees left. Some trees are cut down to make way for aquaculture (ironically, because fish stocks drop dramatically when the trees disappear). The wood is also used to make charcoal.

In Myanmar, Worldview International Foundation works closely with communities to help provide new economic opportunities. People who previously made money making charcoal, for example, are now employed as mangrove planters. They’re also learning how to run aquaculture businesses within mangrove forests. “We have to incentivize people,” says Lyngdoh. “It’s all about creating livelihoods. We have to create jobs that are long-term that can sustain the family, then they see the benefit of the project, and they get engaged in the long term.”

Biocarbon Engineering also wants to help people in the community continue to get higher-paid, more technical jobs. “We train local people to be drone pilots,” says Fedorenko. “And they want that. They want to be in IT. They want to process data, they want to fly drones, they want to do agroforestry, they want to do regenerative agriculture, they want to create vertical farms . . . they want to do all this cool stuff. It’s not the ambition to be a seedling planter for $1 a day.”

The trees can also earn revenue through carbon credits. Worldview International Foundation’s work has been validated so that it can sell carbon offsets to companies; that money comes back to the community and keeps the work going. Biocarbon Engineering is now talking with brands that want to sponsor tree planting, so that when consumers make a purchase, a tree is planted. The drones could share data about specific trees with consumers. “We can literally see every single tree and the leaves on the tree if we need to,” she says. “It opens up this new market for people to see the connection with trees and to say, ‘Wow, this is my tree. I planted that.'”

Worldview International Foundation also works with farmers in India to restore forests in mountains, and in Sri Lanka. Lyngdoh is interested in working with Biocarbon Engineering to bring the drones to those areas as well after proving that the process can work at a larger scale in Myanmar. Ultimately, drones could help support much more massive tree planting, which would have a significant impact on climate change: researchers recently calculated that there is enough room to plant another 1.2 trillion trees, which could suck up more carbon each year than humans emit.

Last weekend, the 2nd annual DroneClash, the next level drone competition, took place in Katwijk, The Netherlands. DroneClash is the drone fighting competition you’ve never heard of, in which drones need to attack and disable rogue drones by any means possible. Think RoboWars but now in the air. The event is sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Dutch Police, the Delft University of Technology and others. This event is not only fun and games there is a more serious aspect to it as well as the Dutch police and Ministry of Defence are looking for new innovative ways to take down rogue drones in real-life situations. A few years ago, they have already tried to do so with birds, but that did not work out so well. The DroneClash event offers a healthy cash prize of 30,000 EUR to the winner. Check it out below.

DroneClash – RoboWars in the air

DroneClash is sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Dutch Police, the Delft University of Technology, the Micro Aerial Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab), which is part of the Delft University of Technology’sFaculty of Aerospace Engineering and the Town of Katwijk. The event took place at a former army airbase not too far from where I grew up.

There a number of videos on YouTube including this almost 6-hour live stream of the event. The final battle was between Team Slunse and Team D!pol. Watch the video below to see who took home the first prize of 30,000 EUR.

In a case of technology penetration through acquisition and investment, thermal imaging company FLIR Systems has been making an aggressive push into the military drone sector. In February, I wrote about FLIR's acquisition of Endeavor Robotic Holdings, a military defense company specializing in ground robots, for a whopping $385 million. 

That acquisition came shortly after FLIR acquired aerial drone company Aeryon for $200 million in January, and overnight it made FLIR a powerful player in defense robotics.

Now the company has announced it has made a strategic investment in DroneBase, a global drone operations company that provides businesses access to one of the largest Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) pilot networks. FLIR will be the exclusive provider of thermal product solutions for DroneBase.

I reached out to Frank Pennisi, President, FLIR Industrial Business Unit, to get the scoop on the big moves. It turns out FLIR is making a gamble that drone adoption is still in the earliest stages across sectors that match up well with FLIR's technology portfolio.

"We are still at a very early stage of adoption of drones in enterprise and civil markets and we see significant growth opportunities ahead," says Pennisi. "We also see growth opportunities that extend beyond the traditional thermal cameras missions."

Founded in 1978, FLIR Systems is an industrial technology company focused on intelligent sensing. It's best known for its thermal imaging sensors, but it has a large suite of sensors.

"FLIR manufacturers a range of detection systems, including gas, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive," says Pennisi, "which we are actively pursuing for future drone usage within the oil and gas, utilities, public safety and military sectors, to name a few."

FLIR's rapid expansion into the sector through acquisition and partnership seems is a case of identifying drones as perfect platform pairing for its technology.

"We see tremendous opportunity across several of our current and growing markets including military and defense, enterprise, industrial and public safety missions -- the customer groups that use thermal imaging every day.  We are expanding awareness and capabilities in unmanned aerial ecosystems through partnerships and strategic investments."

The international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty is reaping the rewards of using drones on major construction projects, including work on a multi-million-pound 'Smart Motorway' upgrade in the Midlands region of the UK with support from UAV specialist Heliguy. The group is utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or 'drones'), including the recently released DJI Phantom 4 RTK, to enhance safety, increase efficiency, gather data faster, improve asset productivity and gain high-accuracy results. The UAVs are being used for quicker stockpile measurements, informative aerial progress reports and accessing hard-to-reach areas.

Balfour Beatty has turned to drone expert Heliguy as its preferred supplier, with the award-winning northeast England-based UAV firm providing a comprehensive package of equipment and support. Balfour Beatty’s drone pilots have praised Heliguy for its industry-recognized expertise, effective communication and wide-ranging services.

Recently, Heliguy visited Balfour Beatty on location in the Midlands to find out how the innovative company is benefiting from drone technology, both on its M6 Smart Motorway scheme and on other construction and infrastructure projects.

Balfour Beatty’s experienced drone pilots Craig Matthews and Wayne Hughes have also shared their verdicts on the Phantom 4 RTK, which they have been trialling during the M6 work. So far, they are pleased with its performance and the results it yields. 

The Project

In 2015, Balfour Beatty – in partnership with VINCI Construction – was selected to deliver a Smart Motorway package on the M4, M5 and M6, worth up to £607.4million. Among the projects was a 13.6-mile section of the M6, from Junction 2 at Coventry to Junction 4 near Coleshill, at a cost of £212million. 

Once the two-year upgrade work is completed, the transformed stretch will increase capacity, reduce congestion and shorten journey times for the thousands of road users who use this network every day.

Extra capacity will be added to the motorways through the conversion of the hard shoulder to a permanent running lane. Electronic signs, operated by a regional control centre, will be installed to manage the flow of traffic in response to driving conditions. And for Balfour Beatty, drones are playing an important role with this major M6 transformation.

UAVs helping with safety and efficiency

Balfour Beatty is using a number of DJI drones – as supplied by Heliguy – on the M6 scheme. These are the Phantom 4 RTK, Mavic Pro and the Inspire 1 with X5 camera.

Balfour Beatty has used the drones for a number of reasons, including mapping and capturing aerial shots, and the company has found that this technology has reduced the amount of hours spent on site, as well as numerous other benefits.

First off, they are proving to be a real time saver, especially when it comes to measuring stockpiles and earthworks at the scheme’s recycling depot at Junction 2. Thanks to UAVs, the team can fly over the site and digitize the area in a fraction of the time that it would take to use traditional, on-site methods. This leads to faster data collection and increased efficiency. 

Craig Matthews, principal UAS manager for Balfour Beatty, said: "The drones are a great time saver. Take the recycling compound for example. If we were to measure stockpiles with traditional survey tools, it would take a lot longer to measure the site and gather the data, whereas drones enable the team to do fairly rapid measurements of different types of materials and earthworks. It would take a surveyor, using traditional handheld equipment, about a day to measure the stockpiles and process the data. But using the drone, we can fly over the compound in 15 minutes and process the model in about two hours.”

The ease in which this can be done is staggering. In the video below, Craig Matthews shows just how quick and simple it is to measure stockpiles using drone technology and computer software. 

Not only does this method increase efficiency, but it also dramatically improves safety – which Balfour Beatty describes as a big plus.

Wayne Hughes said: “Drones make it safer to gain these quantities. To put it simply, drones help unbelievably with health and safety, taking people out of dangerous situations. They are fantastic tools, supplementing the work of the surveyors on-site and helping us to get out to places where boots on the ground wouldn’t necessarily be the best option.”

“It takes people away from places where they could be in harm’s way and it means that we haven’t got people climbing over stockpiles. Instead, the drones can fly over the site and generate a model afterwards, which we can review in the office,” he added.

Drones offer vital eyes from the sky

Drones provide a bird’s-eye view of a construction site, giving a complete snapshot of the area and offering useful insights. Balfour Beatty carries out regular flights across the scheme, allowing the whole team to monitor progress and to support team briefings – as the video below shows. 

This is vital for a number of reasons:

Regular progress reports

Allows staff to monitor and record activities on-site

Gain a better understanding of what is going on

Identify any issues or problems a lot easier and quicker

Take this sequence of images for example, taken from the Balfour Beatty scheme to construct the A45 Daventry development link road, in Northamptonshire. The pictures show how a drone can be used to monitor and record site progress over a period of time.

How a drone can be used to monitor and record site progress over a period of time.

With this in mind, it is fair to say that drones give a unique view, which you would not get from the ground. Wayne Hughes: “It is very useful. We can see at a moment’s notice where we are with the project and we can demonstrate that to the customer. It means that the team can be aware of what is going on without having to go out to the site and you can reach areas that you can’t otherwise necessarily get to because of health and safety.”

"Regular footage from the drone provides a video log for the duration of the scheme. It allows us to monitor and review progress and we can refer to a particular time frame anywhere within the life cycle of the project,” Hughes continued. “We get to see the progress as it is happening and there’s no questions – the footage captured from the drones says this is where we were at this stage or that stage, and this is where we are now. This is beneficial for the customer, stakeholders and the staff,” he added.

Ground control points

As part of the scheme, Balfour Beatty has been trialling the Phantom 4 RTK – which was provided by Heliguy. The next-generation mapping drone was released towards the end of last year and was designed to use RTK processing to produce highly accurate aerial maps.

Wayne Hughes, principal UAS Pilot at Balfour Beatty, said: "The RTK is very good. It provides greater flight safety due to the stability it offers and provides more accurate ground-sensor data. We have achieved some very encouraging figures.”

The Phantom 4 RTK has the ability to connect to the D-RTK 2 Mobile Station.

In addition to the RTK unit, the Phantom 4 RTK also uses a redundant GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) module that provides additional flight stability when flying in dense regions with poor RTK signal. The RTK module is integrated directly with the drone to provide centimetre-level accuracy for stable flight and accurately georeferenced imagery.

A new TimeSync system was added to continually align the flight controller, camera and RTK module – ensuring each photo uses the most accurate metadata and fixes the positioning data to the centre of the CMOS sensor. The Phantom 4 RTK also has the ability to connect to the D-RTK 2 Mobile Station (pictured below), NTRIP (Network Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol), or store the satellite observation data to be used for PPK.

Craig Matthews said: “We have found the Phantom 4 RTK to be a great piece of kit and when it is paired with the base station we are achieving a rock-solid, stable flight and nice accurate models. The battery life is exceptional and it produces high-resolution images.”

When it comes to mapping the site, Balfour Beatty has merged the old with the new, complementing the traditional method of laying ground control points with the Phantom 4 RTK to collect the data.

Ground control points – or GCPs as they are known – are marked points on the ground that have a known geographic location. However, laying out a large number of these markers can be time-consuming. But the Phantom 4 RTK changes all of this. Wayne Hughes: “Thanks to the Phantom 4 RTK, less GCPs need to be put out compared to traditional methods. This reduction makes it safer for the staff who normally put them out.” 

DJI has recently released DJI Terra – a new mapping software tool which is compatible with the DJI Phantom 4 RTK. To find out more, click here.

Digital future

The smart motorways project isn’t Balfour Beatty’s first involvement with drones. In fact, with innovation at its core, the company has been using UAVs since 2015 and has 11 pilots in its team. Craig Matthews: “We have had drones in-house for about three years and they have been used for a variety of work, from inspections to monitoring general progress, filming and PR and mapping. Balfour Beatty has always tried to stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and adopting new technology if we can find a suitable place for it in the business. They are a great tool to deliver the results safely, quickly and accurately.” 

Indeed, drones form a large part of the company’s Innovation 2050 vision, which sets out a digital future for the infrastructure industry, based around human-free construction sites.

As part of the innovative strategy, ‘drones will be flying overhead, scanning the site constantly, inspecting the work and using the data collected to predict and solve problems before they arise, sending instructions to robotic cranes and diggers and automated builders with no need for human involvement’.

Looking ahead to the potential for Balfour Beatty to extend its drone provision, Matthews said: “I imagine that Balfour Beatty’s drone programme will keep growing as we find new uses across the business.”

Laying out a large number of ground control points can be time-consuming.

When it comes to drones and innovation, Wayne – who has been flying UAVs for a number of years – says he has been blown away by the rapid development of drones. In the space of a few years, unmanned aircraft have gone from hobbyists toys to major players in the world of cinematography and enterprise.

Wayne Hughes: “I have seen changes that I never thought I would see. You go back to the Inspire 1 and it doesn’t feel like we were there that long ago. But you compare that to the Phantom 4 RTK, and we’ve also used the M210 RTK, which was a dream, and we’ve come so far in such a short space of time.” 

Would Craig Matthews and Wayne Hughes encourage other companies to use drones? The answer to this question is an unequivocal yes, with the latter describing drones as a game-changer for the construction industry. Matthews said: “I would recommend any company which is considering using drones in the business to at least explore it. The cost of the equipment is falling, but the quality of the equipment is increasing. It is a no-brainer and I believe that drones will become commonplace on construction sites.”  

Conclusion

From saving time in the field, to improving safety and providing valuable information from above – it is clear that the use of drones, including the DJI Phantom 4 RTK, is transforming the way that Balfour Beatty works.

The benefits of using UAVs in construction are plain to see and it would appear that this industry will utilise drones more and more in the future. Indeed, the release of the Phantom 4 RTK and more recently the mapping software, DJI Terra, shows that DJI recognizes the potential of these mighty machines when it comes to construction and surveying.

There’s every chance that additional mapping drones and tools will be added to the DJI ecosystem in the coming months and years. After all, in the words of Balfour Beatty UAV pilot Wayne Hughes, drones have been a game-changer for the construction industry. 

A Queensland builder has predicted a new wave of home designs incorporating drone landing pads could hit the property market in as little as three years.

While it may sound like the plot of a Ken Saunders book, it could in fact become a reality in just a few years.

In Saunders’ book 2028, there are no longer postal delivery by postmen/women. Instead, drones deliver the mail and provide surveillance for ASIO.

Saunders said he wrote the first draft of his “comedy” novel 2028 in 2015.

“It wasn’t so much an attempt to predict the future, but more to describe a world where some of the not very good ideas around today have developed in slightly preposterous ways that sort of make sense, almost.”

Saunders put pen to paper in a comical way, but builder Rivergum Homes design director John Eckert said the reality was that drone landing pads would become a viable option for new houses in the not-to-distant future.

An artists’ impression of Rivergum Homes’ future drone landing pads to be incorporated into Queensland homes.

“When I think of how online shopping has evolved in the last decade, it’s easy to see how this will affect the design of our homes to allow for a superior delivery experience,” he said.

“Looking to the future, drones would certainly offer a unique way of maximising roof space with the inclusion of landing pads integrated onto the roof or into backyard designs to meet the advances in lifestyles.”

Drone operator Tony Gilbert said drone delivery was an idea well worth exploring. IMAGE: Claudia Baxter

Drone operator Tony Gilbert said drone delivery was an idea well worth exploring. IMAGE: Claudia BaxterSource:News Limited

For drone operator Tony Gilbert, who specialises in aerial mapping for engineers, surveyors, developers, building designers and other commercial organisations, the future or drone delivery is not a joke.

“I think it’s a really great use of the technology, a logical use of the technology,” Mr Gilbert said.

“Anywhere where you can reduce the cost of ordinary everyday product by using technology, it’s well worthwhile exploring.”

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A year-long trial backed by Google, Project Wing, wrapped up in the ACT a fortnight ago; now the company has set its sights on launching the world’s first commercial delivery drone operation in urban Canberra before June.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority corporate communications manager Peter Gibson said the trial to deliver fast-food from unmanned aircraft in Bonython was the only one like it in the world.

“Google decided to come all the way from the West Coast of the US about two years ago,” Mr Gibson said.

“They said under Australia’s rules a lot of the regulatory issues they would have faced in America were already solved because we had a set of clear rules of what they could and couldn’t do.”

He said when it came to drone deliveries becoming mainstream, the world was still in trial and developmental stage.

“Particularly getting the unmanned traffic systems right so the drones can fly safely and navigate their way around without running into obstacles or themselves,” he said.

“If you’re a homeowner, it’s not something you could envisage using in the medium to near future, but in the long term it’s highly likely yes.”

Mr Gibson said the landing pads could have more practical applications, such as a portable structure to land a drone after a shark patrol on the South Coast of New South Wales he witnessed.

“Local council had paid a company to move up and down it’s beaches to do shark patrols and he had a little piece of metal on the sand with ‘H; on it, like helicopter and he put traffic cones in a circle 30m out so it would keep people away,” he said.

Mr Eckert said as drone delivery systems continued to be tested and explored, it was hard to put an exact date on when it will be integrated into day-to-day lives.

“But it’s certainly something that Rivergum Homes will be prepared for when the time comes, whether that be three or five years down the track.”

5G has the potential to disrupt a huge number of industries, including one of the world's oldest: Farming.

Next-generation 5G networks can be 100 times faster than 4G, making communication between devices and servers much quicker. 5G can also carry much more data than other networks.

That makes the technology ideal for transmitting information from remote sensors and drones, key tools that are being tested by farmers. 5G is also helping to automate farming processes.

Drones that use 5G are helping to improve potato production in the Netherlands. And in Japan, 5G sensors are used to monitor the water temperature and salt concentration of oyster farms.

UK initiative 5G RuralFirst launched a smartphone app in March called Me+Moo, which lets farmers track a "connected" cow and receive daily updates on the animal's health and behavior.

The system, which is being tested on cows at the Agri-Epi Center in Somerset, England, is funded in part by a UK government grant and supported by the tech company Cisco (CSCO).

Cows are equipped with 5G-connected collars that monitor their health and habits

Cows are equipped with 5G-connected collars that monitor their health and habits

The cows wear 5G-connected collars that send data to the app on everything from what they're eating to how they're sleeping. Farmers can see the info instantly, and pass it on to veterinarians or nutritionists.

"This provides peace of mind that the cows are happy, healthy and behaving normally, as well as early warning if they are getting sick, are pregnant or need to be checked," said project manager Duncan Forbes.

5G evangelists argue that because farms cover large areas that are difficult to monitor, the agriculture sector is well placed to benefit from remote data collection.

The technology could help irrigation systems to turn on at the optimal time of day, or cattle to be grazed on areas that provide the best nutrition. By improving efficiency, it will be possible to produce more food.

Yet to make a difference, 5G will first need to be installed in rural areas.

Automation matters

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that in order to provide for the world's rapidly rising population, the planet will need to grow 70% more food in 2050 than it did in 2009.

"To respond to those demands, farmers will need new technologies to produce more from less land, with fewer hands," reads one report from the organization.

That's where automation comes in.

In 2017, another 5G RuralFirst project became the first in the world to successfully plant, tend and harvest a crop without a single human stepping foot in the field.

Autonomous tractors sowed the seeds, drones with sensors monitored the crops, and smaller machines took samples to assess what fertilizers and pesticides to apply and where.

The project, called Hands-Free Hectare, reported another successful harvest in 2018. It's now going even further by using 5G technology to increase precision and efficiency in crop spraying.

"This will help not only sustain farming, but also make it easier and less demanding for those doing it," Jonathan Gill, a researcher at Harper Adams University, said of the innovations.