Drone Surveying: The Complete Story

Transcription

1 Drone Surveying: The Complete Story NYSAPLS Friday Webinar Series December 1, 2017

2 Aerotas enables surveyors to map by drone More than: 60 clients, 600 drone surveys, 450 hours of field testing & training, nationwide

3 What we ll cover this morning 1. Best practices of building a professional drone program for surveyors 2. Current status of drone survey technology: what s a good investment and what s not 3. In-field drone survey workflow & demo of creating a survey from a drone 3D model 4. Business implications for surveyors looking to grow their businesses

4 Your drone should be doing a lot for you Get you to full final line-work: contours, break-lines, features Cost less than $10,000 TOTAL Accuracy of 0.1 vertical or better when tested to ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards 60-90% time savings in the field No extra office time Operated by regular field survey staff -- no special hiring Practically-zero additional risk or in-field failures

5 A good drone program provides massive benefit Time savings: produce surveys in 40-60% fewer man-hours total Preemption: collect data for potential future projects Protection: collect a complete record of a site and eliminate field re-visits Clarity: charge more for surveys with high-resolution aerial base-maps Cost savings: eliminate spending on aerial contractors Safety: take field crews out of dangerous situations

6 A viable drone program has 5 parts Equipment Compliance Insurance Field operations & training Office deliverable production

7 The drone is the easy part Many surveyors focus too much on the drone, and undervalue the components that actually drive profit: Field ops & training: ensure staff are reliable and efficient at purpose-designed procedures Deliverable production: streamlined workflow to get to your actual final deliverable

8 High-end tech is not yet a smart investment Start with a reliable, easy "pro-sumer photo drone now, while this next-gen tech matures: Fixed-wing airframe Range benefit negated by regulation Comparable accuracy Complex operation Expensive: $30k+ LiDAR sensor Low accuracy (0.3 ) Complex integration & maintenance Expensive: $50k+ RTK/PPK-GPS integration Minimal benefit: still need ground control Comparable accuracy Complex integration Expensive $30k+ Set a limit of ~$10k, including drone, supplemental equipment, training, and insurance

9 The drone industry is confused about accuracy Do not confuse resolution (Ground Sampling Distance) with total accuracy (RMSE) Surveyors understand this, but many drone companies do not! Error comes from a ton of sources don t rely just on accuracy of the drone Camera resolution Camera field of view Flight altitude Linear rolling shutter vs. global shutter Lens distortion parameters Camera focus issues Photo overlap Vibration Changes in lighting Temperature/humidity Motion blur GCP distribution Type of terrain Terrain elevation fluctuation Accuracy of ground equipment Image stitching artifacts Human error in software pointselection

10 0.1 vertical accuracy is industry benchmark Flight Altitude above ground level Maximum Coverage 1 hour flight time Expected Accuracy tested RMSE 100' 25 acres 0.1 vert <0.1 horiz acres 0.2 vert 0.15 horiz 400' 250 acres 0.4 vert 0.3 horiz

11 Profitability starts with streamlined workflow Fly Set 5 aerial targets per flight area and collect any high accuracy ground shots, then set autopilot and press go Stitch Stitch overlapping photos into an orthophoto and surface model (mesh), corrected with ground control Extract Use software to take survey points & break-lines directly on the 3D model, and export directly to AutoCAD

12 An ops checklist is your most valuable asset An effective checklist is comprehensive & easy Pre-mission checks & planning In-field operational consistency Post-mission logging & maintenance Used effectively a checklist ensures operations are Safe: equipment & environment Legal: airspace & operation Profitable: efficient & consistent Paper is still the most reliable technology

13 Prep: set GCPs & collect ground shots Set 5 targets per flight area/battery 5 targets per 7 acres for 0.1 accuracy Collect high-accuracy ground shots ADA compliant ramps, building corners, tie points Collect shorts not visible from the air e.g., curb corner under a tree

14 Fly: setup drone & autopilot, click go Use pre-defined procedures checklist to ensure safety and reliability Full operation is autopilot controlled only need to set flight area and altitude Altitude is dependent on coverage area, accuracy, and obstacles Approx 5 min total for set-up -- press GO and the drone does the rest Operator maintains line of sight

15 Extract: stitch photos & take virtual survey shots First step is to stitch photos together into digital product(s): Orthophoto Digital surface model Point cloud avoid if not proficient with point cloud data Extract spot elevations, breaklines, etc. virtually directly from the DSM Critical for getting to your actual deliverable CAD is not optimized for point-clouds or DSM need a purpose-built tool

16 Choose the right image-stitching for your work Cloud-based automated processing Local, selfprocessing Expert outsourced processing Examples DroneDeploy Propeller Pix4D Agisoft Photoscan Aerotas Key Benefits Fast & simple Very flexible Highest accuracy Key Drawbacks Lowest accuracy Difficult & expensive Slower turnaround time Good For Progress monitoring Quick, low-accuracy maps Remote locations Sensitive data Unusual projects High-accuracy mapping Land surveying Civil engineering

17 Workflow Demo: Drone 3D model to line-work

18 Drone surveying is ~60% more efficient Conventional Survey Field Data collection 16 man-hrs Office CAD 6 22 hrs UAV Survey Field Office Prep 1.5 man-hrs Fly 0.5 PROFIT! Extract 4 CAD 2 8 hrs

19 The survey industry NEEDS efficiency 2017 has been a huge year for construction and firms need to grow, but: Shortage of hirable survey staff Company and industry leadership are aging out The solution: be able to do more work with fewer people

20 Business implications of drones in surveying Focus on efficiency as core business goal Avoid the I ve always done it this way trap Smaller, faster field-crews with fewer field returns Incorporate opportunity cost in planning Changes to project pricing Shift from cost-based to value-based pricing Clients don t need to know you re using a drone! Strategically leverage out-sourcing to prioritize expensive office staff Attract the next generation!

21 "With guidance from Aerotas, we are regularly using drones as a profitable tool in our survey business. They have made it as easy as possible, and back it up with excellent support." - Aaron Smith VP & Principal Land Surveyor, Adobe Associates 2010 CLSA President

22 The complete drone mapping solution Everything you need for $9,200: Technology: high-accuracy multi-rotor drone, equipment & autopilot software Insurance: hull and $1m liability (including first year s premium) Compliance: pre-registered drone; efficient online cram course for FAA pilot certification Online training: courses on safety, reliability, and high-accuracy mapping best practices for 2 In-person training: in-depth hands-on training at your location for 2 High quality deliverable production for $475/month: Data processing: 3D model and orthophoto, usually in 24 hours Support: prompt phone and support Virtual Surveyor: software to produce a surface from the digital model

23 Questions? (949)