I like to keep on new technologies and innovations in the civil engineering field, and one relatively new technology I have been interested in has been the use of drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Here in North Carolina, we have used drones for several different applications like performing bridge inspections, assessing roads and bridges after hurricanes, and even transporting medical supplies between hospitals. I have also seen really impressive construction time lapse videos using drones.
I think the use of drones will continue to increase in upcoming years in our industry, and that there are more applications in civil engineering where drones can be used. I have seen drones that can be equipped with an amazing amount of cameras and sensors that can take temperature measurements, weather measurements, scan entire structures, and of course take photos and videos. I think one of the biggest benefits of drone use can be safety for civil engineers. Drones can limit the times we need to send a physical engineer to hazardous locations.
I would like to know from others here if they have used drones before, and if so, in what context? I bet there are some really neat drone projects I am not even aware of.
I know as a bridge engineer, I am really excited to see how drones can help with bridge inspections. I think drones could be a great "screening tool" for bridge inspectors, where the drone can look at hard to reach areas to see if there are areas that warrant bridge inspectors to access. This can save a lot of time and have less impact to the traveling public if bridge inspectors don't need to use lane closures to inspect certain parts of a bridge. I also like the idea of drones having predetermined flight paths for each bridge, so that during each inspection the drone is looking at the same parts of the bridge consistently, so photos and measurements taken by the drone can be easily compared to the previous inspections photos and measurements.
If anyone has had any experience with using drones for bridge inspections, I would love to hear about it.
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Doug Cantrell P.E., M.ASCE
Professional Engineer
Durham NC
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