The “drone-in-a-box” system takes about two days to set up and undertakes weekly inspections beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), creating a layered, ongoing progress indicator for Hochtief for the bridge over the Rhine.
Hochtief gets 2D and 3D survey outputs from data processed by DroneDeploy.
Speaking to GCR, Skyports Drone Services says it plans to expand the use of technology and that previous site monitoring was manual and subjective, with limited and infrequent drone surveys completed by on-site personnel.
Drone footage has been used to identify issues early and reduce cost increases or delays.
Alex Brown, Skyports Drone Services’ chief executive, spoke exclusively to GCR about the scalability of the project and future plans: “Pending the service being successful, the plan is to expand this across a number of Hochtief’s other construction sites.
“It’s the same pilot who is flying the existing site remotely, so they can fly the new sites from our single ROC. This personnel efficiency is the most important thing, as having drone operators travel to a site, set up, fly, pack down and travel home, is the largest cost and time element of drone operations.
“Beyond Hochtief, we have strong interest in the service from other construction leaders, with a leading US construction firm looking at getting a number of set ups deployed across their sites.
An aerial view of the Rheinbrücke Leverkusen bridge“Traditional drone surveys are usually carried out by a pilot physically attending on site. There are two restrictions that come with this. First off, the pilot needs to physically get there, which requires logistical coordination and travel expense.
“The second is that they will usually be restricted to having to keep the drone flown in eyeline, what we call ‘within visual line of sight’. If you’re surveying a large site, this means the pilot will need to keep on moving. For bridge construction sites, like with Hochtief, this was a challenge as the pilot needed to cross the river in order to survey the full site.
“By piloting remotely, you effectively have on-demand access to the drone, there’s no need to get someone on site to fly. And with BVLOS airspace approvals, the drone can effectively fly the full site unrestricted in one go.
A 3D model generated by the drone“The final benefit is instant access to data. Whereas a physical pilot would then need to physically upload all the drone captured data, with the remote piloted Drone-in-a-Box this all occurs automatically once the survey flights are complete.”
Klaus Grüttner, Hochtief Infrastructure’s executive vice president in Europe, said: “By partnering with Skyports, we have a leading innovator in drone technology at our side to drive our complex construction projects.
“This cooperation enables us to monitor the construction progress seamlessly and cost-efficiently and to provide targeted support in billing, especially in earthworks.
“In addition, we benefit from precise surveying data that supports a continuous target/actual comparison and the optimisation of our construction processes.”
Work on the Rheinbrücke Leverkusen bridge is due to be completed by 2028 and requires extensive earthworks, removal of a current bridge and construction on the east and west banks of the Rhine.
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