NOTE: various details of the following Case Study have been removed, due to commercial sensitivities. Upon request, further details may be provided upon approval by the client, and the signing of an NDA.

 

Diospatial – Drone Survey for 3D modelling. Diospatial are one of Australia’s leading drone surveying companies. They are based in Sydney. Diospatial contracted me to do the data capture for a drone survey of some newly-installed rockfall netting on Victoria’s SW coastline. The imagery captured was to be used to produce 3D models of the rockfall netting, and the immediate area beyond, to check that the installation had been done correctly. The results needed to have survey-grade accuracy, so my DJI Phantom 4 RTK, with D-RTK2 base station, was used. Existing known survey markers from a previous survey of all of the sites prior to the netting installation, were used to provide ground control.

 

To complicate matters, the rockfall netting was installed on near-vertical cliffs that curved around in 3 dimensions, so the data capture of the imagery would all need to be done manually, instead of the usual automated flight mission. There were four sites, requiring approximately 2800 photos to be taken in total. Since the photos taken were to be used in a photogrammetry application, all the critical parameters were rigidly specified, including front and side overlaps of the photos, camera angles, flight lines, heights, work area boundaries, camera settings, etc. These were all discussed at length with Diospatial, in a pre-job videoconferencing briefing.

 

Due to severe weather conditions at the time, there was only one suitable day in the entire time period available, to do the job. The first photo was taken at 8:35am, the last was taken at 4:35pm, as light was fading and drizzle began to fall. There were no breaks, other than changing batteries, and driving between sites. Thanks to my custom charging setup, the job was completed with just four Phantom flight batteries, and four WB37 batteries. There was never any waiting for a full battery, and the car never needed to be started, other than for driving between sites.

 

I have since performed other, similar jobs for Diospatial, this time using Network RTK for ground control, and with me controlling traffic management, also with successful outcomes.

 

Client Testimonial:

“Our experience with Peter from Commercial Drone Services was frictionless and professional from start to finish.

Peter received our brief and executed it exactly as described, on time and within budget. Would recommend and will use again.”

Zack Wasson,

Director,

Diospatial.

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