The use of drones is helping engineers inspect hard-to-reach areas, identify safety hazards and locate structural issues. Cameras and other sensors can be fitted to drones to allow on-site inspections and provide aerial photographs and video of locations and structures. Drones can be used to even assist with cultural inventories.
Shane Steiner, PE, is an associate vice president of the aviation arm of KLJ Engineering and Planning Services in Bismarck. He says the technology for drones has grown leaps and bounds in the past five years, becoming an important tool for engineers at his company.
“We use it for surveying, for construction observation to check in on projects. Being able to put the drone up and take an aerial photo or a video of a loop around a project gives you an extra dimension to look for things and a way to monitor,” he said.
The attachments for drones are making just as many advancements as the drone itself. Drones are getting larger, the batteries can last longer and the sensors are more sensitive. Thermal imaging cameras on drones are used for inspections, for example, to determine the severity of cracking in a structure or surface. Drones can also be used in culturally sensitive areas.
“If we’re in a sensitive area, where we’re limited in what we can do, areas where tribes don’t allow people to walk, we can send over a drone with a thermal camera. We can pick out rock formations or other features and it allows us to be better stewards while working with the tribes in collaboration. It’s less invasive, rather than having someone walk or drive all over,” Steiner said.
Drones aren’t the only technology piece being used. Three-dimensional visualization has advanced, as well. Whether for marketing or project proposals, to show the environment or project from all angles is a benefit.
/ Courtesy KLJ
“On the aviation side, we saw the benefits, like roads going along the airports, or if we want to remove a phase of a project, what does that look like? It’s important for airports because safety is a big concern. It’s important for the air traffic tower. Their big concern is blind spots. If you put up a couple of hangars and all of a sudden the control tower can’t see part of the terminal or one of the boarding bridges or half of an apron where planes are coming to and from, that creates an issue,” Steiner said.
The 3D technology allows project teams to be proactive and alleviates any of the concerning spots.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been around for a couple of decades, allowing engineers of all disciplines and architects to coordinate in a virtual 3D model, Tevis Holzer said. He’s a project manager and engineer in the structural department at Banner Associates in Brookings, South Dakota.
/ Courtesy Banner Associates
“Coordinating in a single model helps engineers stay on the same page, detect clashes between building components, and reduce mistakes. The more recent use of drones and sophisticated scanning systems has allowed engineers to incorporate detailed ‘as-built’ conditions into these models, which greatly reduces the need to hand-measure and document existing conditions,” Holzer said. “As BIM models become more detailed and dynamic, ‘digital twin’ models can incorporate real-time sensors from the actual building to assist engineers and building owners with operational efficiency and maintenance over the entire life of the building.”
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provides a similar ability to track horizontal infrastructure, such as the age and condition of underground piping or the location of potholes in city streets, he added. GIS has given surveyors and planners very detailed data, allowing measuring down to 1/16 of an inch.
/ Courtesy Bolton & Menk
Engineering firm Bolton & Menk, celebrating 75 years in business this year, has created a proprietary platform called INPUTiD. The customizable web-based public engagement platform allows stakeholders and the public to provide comments and interact with one another in a visual, user-friendly mapping interface. It was used on the North Dakota Department of Transportation’s
, focusing on traffic management on Interstate 29.
“We have one on there right now for a project we’re doing in Grand Forks. People can go in and pop in their comments, such as, ‘I really like this stretch of the Greenway, I use the bike path a lot,’ or ‘This intersection has always made me feel unsafe as a cyclist or pedestrian’,” said Blue Weber, the firm’s community outreach liaison. “This interactive map allows people to give us their opinion of things, and also once we start to do design elements, we can overlay those designs on INPUTiD. Maybe it’s looking at layout A, B or C, and being able to say they like a specific design because of a crossing or something like that. It’s a really good way for us to get feedback throughout the process while also being able to show what we’ve designed and created.”
/ Courtesy Bolton & Menk
Weber said many people may be surprised to realize that infrastructure projects typically begin years before the public may see any activity, beginning with data collection studies and analysis and ending with project design.
“It’s those calculations happening behind the scenes that I think people who are seeing road construction just don’t think about,” Weber said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to become a powerful tool in the near future, but its implementation has been slow in the engineering world. An internal AI system, where only information from the company’s own database is sourced, Steiner said, would be helpful to engineers as they would know the origin of the data being accessed.
“Engineers will need to find ways to use and get comfortable with AI technology in low-risk situations and focus on developing trustworthy AI tools in order to harness its power,” Holzer said.
Carrie McDermott joined Prairie Business magazine in March 2023. She covers business industry trends in North Dakota, South Dakota and west central Minnesota. Email address: cmcdermott@prairiebusinessmagazine.com.