Introduction

Inspecting any infrastructure asset like bridges, dams as well as massive skyscrapers is a vital task to their maintenance. Since these structures are huge, large, complex and often out of the way, the conventional methods like terrestrial LiDAR prove to be slow, expensive as well as challenging to use.

Let’s take an example of drinking water infrastructure inspection here which ran into some problem. The company was in need of a better way to inspect the infrastructure. Thus, they found what they were looking in for UAVs and photogrammetry technology.

With the use of photogrammetry technology, it was easy for the company to survey the dam with higher accuracy as compared to terrestrial LiDAR.

This not only gave higher coverage but also at much lower cost and with much smaller time as well.

With the use of UAV and Photogrammetry technology, the company was able to do a lot more regarding maintenance. Now they can make use of UAVs as well as photogrammetry to survey the dam regularly. They can also use preventative measures and repair the dam before any issues, thus saving money as well as lives involved in the overall process.

The Best Way To Maintain The Dam

A drinking water infrastructure is one of the crucial entities to maintain it with high safety standards. The company has also developed a model for predicting the dam response to the climatic changes including earthquakes as well as thermal variations.

Well, to feed this model, the company also requires exact data that can be gathered with short turnaround time. The UAV Photography can satisfy their needs, but the accuracy and precision requirements are still under the hood.

Any chance for Drone Photogrammetry?

Well, to achieve the target, the company set up an experiment to try it out. Firstly, they perform all the topographical surveys. With GPS, terrestrial laser scanners and aerial photography, the companies survey the main dam as well as supportive structures such as guard house and the weighing blocks.

Next step was to set up a UAV survey. Visualizing the atmospheric conditions, they began the study using Total stations to place control points around the dam and geolocate the results of the UAV photogrammetry. By sending the UAV, they were able to gather numerous photographs, around 6000.

After processing the photographs with Bentley’s Photogrammetry Software, the group generates both 3D model files and dense point clouds of the dam.

The company then compared the model files with the traditional survey data that was previously gathered.

Result? The UAV data enriched with data showing deviations within a range of 2 centimeters which was incredible!

Solution Of Issues Before They Arise

The dense point cloud generated by Photogrammetry software gave a good reflection of the reality. It was able to capture the current state of the dam within a short time. The point cloud data feed the model with accurate data that predicts changes in dam’s mechanical properties.

By using UAVs and Photogrammetry, it is now possible to perform proactive asset management. The tools and methodologies can detect the problems before they become real-world safety risks.

In simple words, with the use of Photogrammetry and UAV technologies, it is now possible to detect the issue before they arise and thus can save lives as well as money in the process.