The Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) recently conducted an inspection of the Delaware Memorial Bridge Twin Span using an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) or drone. Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc., based at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, in cooperation with WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, utilized an Inspire Pro 1 and Maverik X8 to perform the inspection services for DRBA as a test of the technology. The test inspection flights occurred on the New Jersey side of the Bridge complex on Tuesday, April 5. Continue reading
Category Archives: Construction
Woolpert Deploys UAS to Collect Imagery for Rural Roads Project
Woolpert has been hired by Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) to collect imagery via unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone, of haul roads throughout the Midwest. Continue reading
UAVs to Check on Railway Bridge Safety in India
A one-of-its-kind pilot project concerning health monitoring of railway bridges in the South Central Railway zone is about to take off for the first time in India later this year. Continue reading
Caterpillar and Redbird Advance Work Site Intelligence with Drone Analytics
Caterpillar has entered into a new marketing agreement with aerial data collection company Redbird, in the Europe, Africa and Middle East region. Continue reading
Common UAV Software May Not (Yet) Be Reliable for Building Safety or Damage Assessment
Researchers at Texas A&M and University of Nebraska-Lincoln have found that popular software packages for creating photo mosaics of disasters from imagery taken by small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may contain anomalies that prevent its use for reliably determining if a building is safe to enter or estimating the cost of damage. Continue reading
Minnesota DoT Testing Drones for Bridge Inspections
“We do underneath rope access inspections,” said Barritt Lovelace, a regional manager for Collins Engineers Inc., an agency headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the country. “Basically, we rock-climb bridges. It’s a lot of fun.” In Duluth recently, Lovelace stood with a host of others below the Blatnik Bridge to participate in a demonstration of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s ongoing study of using drones for bridge inspection purposes.
Mini-UAS Maps Buildings In Dubai
During the Robotic Technology Exhibition in Dubai six weeks ago, Lockheed Martin demonstrated the Indago quadrotor UAS equipped with an EO/IR payload. It was steered from a portable controller with software that allowed the operator “to focus on high-level mission execution rather than flight details” according to LM. Continue reading
PreNav Beta-Testing Drone-Based Inspection System
Big IT companies have largely been mum on plans to use drones, but emerging technology from Bay-area startup PreNav appears to have at least intrigued wireless service providers and cell phone tower operators. Continue reading