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Construction Monitoring with Drones -liability issues & risk management
Presented at: Rocky Mountain Asphalt Conference and Equipment Show February 24, 2017
Presented by: John Babel, Assistant Vice President, XL Catlin Insurance. NA Construction, Risk Engineering
• National Airspace System (NAS)• FAA Section 333 and COA (Old rules – still in use)• FAA 14 CFR Part 107 (New Rules)• Remote Pilot Airman Certificate (RPAC)• “Hobbyist’ vs. Commercial use• Line of sight (LOS)• Beyond VLOS (BVLOS)
• First person or “camera” view (same)• “Fly-away”• “Geo-fence” – Software - Safety feature• “Detect & avoid” technology - Safety feature• FAA Air Traffic Control (ATC)• UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system – The future.
• Significant time & cost reduction over traditional surveys**A recent aerial survey of mining stockpiles in PA was 200X more efficient than traditional survey methodsSource: Integrated Technologies
• Great for dirty, dull and dangerous jobs
• Near immediate data available for processing via point cloud
• Digital photography/video documentation• LiDAR - Integration with BIM • Inspect hard to reach & dangerous places• Route mapping/survey for linear utilities, roads, etc.• Remote surveys –
• QC inspection/documentation• IR inspections of electrical substations• Inspect large-scale solar PV farms• Bridges, dams, etc.
• Emergency response in remote areas (deliver AED)• Marketing videos• Wind turbine inspections• Safety inspections• Inspecting confined spaces• Environmental and IH sampling in high risk areas, e.g.
where intrinsically safe devices are needed• EOD/Hazardous materials operations
Who can fly Commercially• Anyone 16 years old and up• Must speak, write, and understand English• Must be in physical and mental condition that does not
interfere with safe flight practices• Vetted by the Transportation Security Administration
The new FAA rules permit users to:• Operate UAS <55 lbs. (including payloads) for
commercial purposes, < 400 ft. AGL• Fly without a visual observer, unless BVLOS• Operating without a Section 333 exemption/COA• Users can file online waivers for FAA exemptions – e.g.
• FAA is (so far) silent on state & local regulation of UAS.• 40+ states have considered or adopted UAS legislation• Industry groups like AGC want FAA rule that state & local
governments cannot preempt federal law• For now, companies should determine what the laws are
1) Embrace the risk – Operate UAV in-house, get insurance (or self-insure), hire FAA certified (RPAC) operators, and have a robust UAS safety & RM program to prevent third party claims
2) Transfer Risk - Hire a specialty vendor/sub with FAA certified operators, bonded, insured, etc.) – UAS technology is developing too quickly and requires a lot of work and expense!
• Use qualified, experienced UAS operators• Take FAA test & Obtain RPAC• Understand FAA UAS regulations & NAS• Operator(s) should have documented experience &
hours operating your UAS aircraft• Trainee operators can work under direct supervision of
FAA UAS RPAC Holder• Spotter(s) required/trained if using FPV/BVLOS
• Flight plan reviewed and approved internally• Batteries charged (UAV, controller, camera, etc.)• Compass/GPS properly calibrated• Propellers clean and tight• Take-off and landing area clear• Wind gusts below 15 mph or by manufacturer
Flight Narrative: From base, proceed to 150’ AGL to clear trees and building. Proceed to the west in visual range and maintain between150’-200’ AGL. Circle target counter-clockwise avoiding the adjacent construction.
This drone defense system from Airbus and Dedrone uses different sensors – cameras, radars, microphones and directional scanners –that, when combined, can secure the airspace from up to 10 kilometers away.
• A dedicated team of industry experts focused on building long-term relationships with contractors to clearly understand their changing business needs — day-by-day, project-by-
project — providing them with the innovative products and services to help protect profitability, maintain a competitive edge and keep employees safe.
XL Catlin Mission Statement
Strong Enough To Protect You… Agile Enough To Support You
Building The Future Together, One Relationship At A Time.
A dedicated team of industry experts focused on building long-term relationships with contractors to clearly understand their changing business needs — day-by-day, project-by-
project — providing them with the innovative products and services to help protect profitability, maintain a competitive edge and keep employees safe.
42
How a Drone Can Make Your Asphalt Plant More Profitable
By Jessica Stoikes on May 23, 2016
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or drones seem to be dominating many conversations in the
construction industry. The asphalt industry has taken these drones from a marketing tool and turned
them in to a real way to increase profits in their plant operations.
John Dougherty, owner of Louisville Paving and Construction based in Louisville, KY, says the use of
drones has revolutionized the way they do business and they continue to find new uses for them every
day. “Being a pilot, I like anything to do with flying so when I noticed drones at World of Asphalt three
years ago, I immediately recognized the speed that they could bring to many labor intensive tasks,”
Dougherty says.
Stockpile management done faster & cheaper
One of the first things that Dougherty thought the drones could help him with was stockpile
management. Think about how you currently manage your stockpiles. If you’re like most plant owners,
you have a worker physically go to each stock pile with a GPS rover, climb up and down the piles
marking points and tracking the data. That captured data is downloaded and checked before loading
into a take‐off program that converts the volumes into tons. Not only is this exhausting for your worker,
it can take them up to four days per plant to complete.
Dougherty estimates the old process would cost his company $1,080 in labor to complete per plant.
That’s at a rate of $45/hour for 24 total hours. Compare that to using a drone and Dougherty is saving
almost $1,000 per quarter, per plant. Here’s how:
First, you need to map out a flight plan. Louisville Paving uses DJI Ground Station to complete the flight
plan. Using Google Earth to set a boundary, the app that controls the drone generates a flight plan that
can control the drone from takeoff to touchdown. Manual controls can override the flight path if need
be. Dougherty estimates this process takes him about 20 minutes and once a good flight plan is
established, it can be reused for future flights so this step is eliminated. “Once onsite, there is a pre‐
flight checklist that I go through ever time, just making sure that all the components are in good working
order and the conditions are right to fly,” Dougherty says. “The preflight checklist, GPS acquisition and
calibration take about 15 minutes. Flight time varies depending on location and the area covered.
During flight, the drone’s camera is busy taking a series of overlapping images with GPS coordinates.
GPS coordinates on the images are being converted into 2D and 3D maps that are used to create a point
cloud that forms a visual 3D model. Once on the ground, the data the drone has collected is processed
into a program called PIX4D Mapper. From those images and data, Dougherty can produce output
analytic data such as volumes and contours of the materials on the property. That data can be stored in
his existing take‐off program and the flight plan reused. Dougherty says stock pile management using
drones has a labor cost of $90 to complete per plant. That’s for 2 hours at $45/hour. That's almost a
$1,000 saved with this use alone.
“Before we used drones, we didn’t really have a process for plant and quarry stockpile management
and there were times we might be down waiting on materials,” Dougherty says. “Now, we monitor both
our stockpiles and our quarries to anticipate supply problems to allow us to make job mix formula (JMF)
adjustments as needed before we need to interrupt our crews. “And since we can more easily monitor
our stockpiles, we do it more frequently now was well,” Dougherty continues. “This allows us to forecast
potential deficiencies in products, enabling us to plan accordingly.”
Dougherty says to work with your vendor to be sure you’re not only getting the drone to best complete
the work you want, but also the software. “An internet search can find almost anything you need, but
you need to talk to the vendor and be satisfied it will do what you want it to do,” he says.
Plant maintenance made safer
While you may think that no one knows your asphalt plant like a maintenance team in the trenches
every day, you should consider that drones can help your team do the same inspections, not only safer,
but also more efficiently, saving both time and money. Drones can easily fly up to areas on the plants
that are difficult to reach, keeping your crew safe on the ground. Dougherty says drones make it easier
to monitor and document elevated ductwork, drag conveyors and bin tops for any issues. The images
taken can be inspected by plant personnel and potential problems can be more easily caught before
they cause any real issues. “If we can catch plant problems before they result in a breakdown, that leads
to huge cost saving implications,” Dougherty says.
Plan to use your drone as part of the daily walk around, especially on portable plants to make sure
everything is up and running before the guys on the jobsite can even think about being delayed by a
plant breakdown.
Start‐to‐finish project monitoring
Drones are also great for helping your company plan out projects.
With the same 3D mapping that Louisville Paving uses for stockpile management, Dougherty also uses
his drones to map topography of jobsites before crews even get onsite. He says this can help with the
bid process if they suspect a quantity bust on a job.
“We overlay the topo map we take with the drone onto the plan design and generate our own
quantities,” Dougherty says. This can help them accurately bid jobs and turn them down if the profit
won’t be there based on their quantities. “We also fly all site jobs after they are cleared to check
elevations so we can verify quantities before we even get out there,” Dougherty adds. “Many existing
elevations on plans coming from the engineer are generated before the site is cleared which impacts the
accuracy of the results. Obviously, knowing the actual elevations is beneficial.”
In addition to mapping the topography of a jobsite in order to manage quantities, drones can inspect
jobsites for silt control, security and progress. This helps with project information dissemination as
drones can let any member of the project team know the project status after a quick 15 minute flight.
Drones can generate as‐built models that can be sent to project managers to identify any delays or
budget overages. This also adds to increased safety as drones are able to quickly identify hazards even
on large jobsites.
Originally, Dougherty was just thinking he’d use his drone for stock pile management but now, “we’re
still finding uses for it,” he says. Drones can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000 depending on what
capabilities you desire. The more you want the drone to do, the more the drone unit and the software
will cost. Some contractors simply want drones for taking aerial shots of completed work for marketing.
Before drones, about the only way to get these shots was to hire a pilot who could take shots from their
aircraft. At a minimum cost of $600 per flight, purchasing a low‐cost drone would be worth the
investment. “Aerial photography and videography of jobsites make for great marketing tools whether
online, print or when pitching jobs in person,” Dougherty adds. “And its great PR with clients as