MSL is utilizing drone technology for its inspections. The drone inspection has several advantages:

Difficult and Limited Access Areas: The drone can document areas that may otherwise be difficult to reach or unsafe to access. For example, during an inspection of a tall commercial pier, the underside of the decking and associated structure was only physically accessible by being suspended from the topside of the pier. The drone allowed a full visual inspection of all components without the need to “hang” below the deck. In another recent inspection, the drone allowed a detailed inspection of a dock that had lost a section of deck and therefore was not safe to walk across.

Detailed Measurements: MSL creates a pre-inspection flight plan to optimize the data collected by the drone. The high-resolution images, GPS location, altitude and camera orientation are processed to develop an orthomosaic map, effectively providing a survey of the documented site. Measurements taken from the map can be accurate to less than an inch per pixel. MSL is using this technology to expediate the process of documenting existing conditions, which previously had to be measured by hand. The following image shows an MSL developed orthomosaic overlaid onto Google Earth.

Documentation of Damages: The drone also provides one more perspective to document post-event conditions. The following image is an example of one of the images that was stitched together to make the prior map.

MSL plans to continue to integrate advances in technology to improve the efficiency of its inspection and assessment protocols.