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(gentle music)

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(drone whirring)

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- [Narrator] The Texas
Department of Transportation

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currently uses drones, also known

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as unmanned aircraft systems,

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to support several activities
including land surveying.

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UASs equipped with cameras

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or LiDAR can survey an area faster

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and safer compared to traditional
land surveying techniques.

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The Texas Department of Transportation

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and researchers with
Texas A&M Corpus Christi

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have examined the various
UAS surveying technologies

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to better understand their capabilities

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and limitations.

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- The beauty of UAS is you
can get this data quickly

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and efficiently, but
there are different ways

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we can do that with surveying.

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So basically you have one way,

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which is like my cell
phone using a camera,

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and that's photogrammetry. So
we can measure with a camera,

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we can put it on a drone and fly around.

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The other way is using what's called LiDAR

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or light detection
ranging, which is a laser,

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and it scans actively,
it shoots a laser out

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and maps things three dimensionally.

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Both approaches can be
done on a drone or UAS,

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however, there are certain
pros and cons between them.

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And so this research led to TxDOT

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wanting to better
understand their use cases.

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When would the photogrammetry
approach be better?

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When would the LiDAR approach be better

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or when can both work?

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- Drones were already in use

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in TxDOT before this research,

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but when gathering aerial images, video

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3D models, also known as digital twins,

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guidance was kind of
needed on what combination

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of aerial platforms, remote sensors

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and techniques were required
to get good results.

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- So what we did is we went

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all across the great state of Texas,

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north Texas, west Texas, south Texas,

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east Texas, central Texas.

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We went to 10 different
TxDOT district project sites.

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So they were spread across
six different TxDOT districts,

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so across different terrain.

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What we did is we went to these different

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active project sites and
would test the technology.

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We'd collect data and we would
fly a UAS survey using LiDAR,

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and then we'd fly one with a
camera doing photogrammetry,

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and we would compare the technologies

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under different use cases.

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- [Speaker] They visited bridges,

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they scanned the top of them,

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they scanned the bottom of them,
they scanned the stockpiles

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to try to measure the
volumes of those stockpiles.

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- We actually had the development sites.

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We went to RELLIS and Station and others.

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We'd kind of run different
experiments with ground control,

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data collection, different
things like that.

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And then we did a lot of
processing work in the lab,

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meaning we take the data,

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try different processing techniques,

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testing different things as well,

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including artificial intelligence methods

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to try to automate digital
survey workflows with the data.

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- They really created a
full matrix of land types,

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equipment, different infrastructure types

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to try to get the best equipment

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and technique for the type

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of a measurement you're trying to make.

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- The biggest finding is
definitely UAS technology,

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whether using a camera

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or a LiDAR sensor is really effective

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at quick documentation of 3D data.

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I mean, as much information
as we can really handle.

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What we learned is both technologies

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are actually really effective,

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but they definitely do
have specific use cases

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that are better in certain
situations than others.

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- The primary innovative course

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is always safety, just
getting the inspector

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and the surveyor out of the right of way

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and no longer needing to
climb bridges or towers.

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That's huge, and also it addresses

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difficult access areas or line of sight.

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You can now see things from on top

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that you can't see from the ground.

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- The real power with UAS, in my opinion,

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and what we've learned from the research

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and what we've seen, is just the ability

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to collect this data, you know, quickly

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and timely and accurately.

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So just by TxDOT integrating
this technology effectively,

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just getting that data
will, you know, lead

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to better understanding, better update

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and information about the right
of way about the highways,

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and that'll trickle down
to the general public

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and just safer across
the great state of Texas.

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And it's a huge place to map and survey.

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We don't have enough
manpower to get out there

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and collect that data, so UAS is a way

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that we can get that information

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and help continue to monitor our highways

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and our roadway infrastructure in Texas.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.