From L-R: Ed Kelly (Huntly Survey Manager), Jamie Nelson (Position Partners Sales Manager) and  Tony Dickens (Huntly Project Manager) 

Fulton Hogan, an international civil construction company specialising in transport, energy, mining and infrastructure projects, recently updated the firm’s project surveying methods in New Zealand by investing in a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS).

Fulton Hogan & HEB Alliance is a joint venture project on the Huntly Bypass, a continuation of the Waikato expressway in between Auckland and Hamilton. This $458 million dollar project is set to transform the 15.2 kilometre stretch of the Waikato Expressway between Ohinewai and Ngaruawahia, between Auckland and Hamilton. Construction began in 2015 with the expressway due to be completed by 2019-2020.

Innovative Solutions

With such a large scale project at hand Fulton Hogan decided to look into new efficient ways to manage the survey aspect of the project.

“We were finding that conducting monthly survey measurements on large earthwork sites using traditional optical and GNSS survey methods were costly and involved out-sourcing the job to contractors,” said Ed Kelly, Fulton Hogan’s Survey Manager for the project. “So we decided to look at what else the market could offer to save time and money and increase safety,” he added.

After researching the various RPAS solutions available on the market, Ed met with Jamie Nelson, Position Partners New Zealand Sales Manager, who offered the perfect solution.

“When Jamie showed me the Sirius Pro with the RTK unit I knew I had found what I was looking for,” Ed said. 

Most RPAS solutions require the use of a series of ground control points to give reference locations for the images taken during a flight, so the photos can be collated into an orthophoto and subsequently a 3D model during post processing.

The Sirius Pro, however, uses a combination of on-board and ground-based GNSS technology to eliminate the need for ground control points, saving time and removing the dangers associated with surveyors working on hazardous terrain and near active machinery. Another very useful feature is the Terrain compensation in the flight panning Mavinci Desktop software. This allows the Sirius to maintain an even GSD (Ground sampling distance) for consistent and accurate results in mountainous terrain.    

“For a large road development project such as this, the use of ground control would add considerable time and expense to the end of month surveys, negating many of the benefits of this new technology,” Ed explained. “But I knew when I saw the Sirius Pro that it had the potential to drastically improve our workflow and offer a far more efficient, accurate and cost effective option.”

To make sure the Sirius Pro was up to the task and could deliver the results Fulton Hogan required, Ed undertook a series of test flights with the system. “There is always a degree of caution when investing in new technology as the results need to be proven, but when I saw the data produced from our trial flights, I was really impressed and knew it was the right tool for the job,” he added.

A good return on investment 

Since introducing RPAS technology Fulton Hogan has observed major time and cost savings on survey work for the Huntly Bypass Project. 

“Previously, we would contract four surveyors for a week each month to conduct an end of month survey. While the surveyors were collecting their data we would shut down sections of the site as it’s not safe to have anyone working near live machinery, but that of course has a knock-on effect to productivity and project costs.  

Now with the RPAS solution we can conduct the end of month surveys with two people in just 2-3 days. There is no need for the surveyors to work near machinery, which means there is no construction down time and the site is a lot safer overall.” Ed said.

Time savings and safety improvements have been a bonus to the Huntley Bypass survey team but they were also impressed by the quality of the RPAS data produced.

“I was surprised that the RPAS can produce higher quality data than traditional survey methods – I thought that at best it would match it, but never did I expect it to be better,” Ed explained.

Diversification of use – added bonus

Although purchased specifically for end of month surveys,  Ed’s team is now using the Sirius Pro on a number of other tasks because of its ease of use and the high quality data it produces.

“We now use the Sirius for jobs such as earthwork surveys and tree clearing – it’s probably used 2-3 times per week for survey work on site,” he said. “It’s proved a great return on investment.”

From L-R: Alan Bullock (Emerging Products Specialist at Position Partners), Ed Kelly (Huntly Survey Manager), George Clemens  (Surveyor), Jono Halt (Head Surveyor) and Daniel Southall (Surveyor)

Support & Training

Prior to using the Sirius Pro on site, Ed and his team attended two RPAS operator training courses, provided by Position Partners Campus in conjunction with Massey University – School of Aviation.

 “I am really happy with the training and support we have received form Jamie and the Position Partners team,” Mr Kelly said. “On-boarding with any new technology has its challenges and they have been on-hand throughout to ensure everything ran smoothly.”

 Overall, Ed feels the introduction of the RPAS has been a great success.

“The Sirius has made a huge difference to our job and the productivity benefits have been noticed throughout the business. I certainly recommend this solution to colleagues and peers for a safer and more efficient way to survey, particularly on larger projects,” he added.

 

Coastwide Civil, based in Albion Park, south of Wollongong, New South Wales, is the primary contractor on a complex harbour excavation project at Shellharbour, on the NSW south coast. The new boat harbour forms part of the Shell Cove development project and, upon completion, will include 300 wet berths and a platform for associated harbour-side development and facilities on the 20-hectare site.

In addition to the new marina, Coastwide Civil is also contracted for remodelling and plant relocation as part of the Bass Point Quarry expansion project, located just to the south of the Shell Cove site. The company is also running two subdivision projects adjacent to the new marina development, along with a major road upgrade that connects the new site with Shellharbour village. 

Managing these five sites is Scott Rogers, Head Surveyor and a Director of the company. He and his team have invested in the latest survey and machine control technology to enable them to work as productively and efficiently as possible while keeping track of progress across all projects simultaneously. 

In addition to traditional survey equipment and machine control technology, Coastwide Civil is taking full advantage of new Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) solutions as well as Position Partners’ remote support technology, Tokara Link telematics, to manage design updates and support machines running Topcon machine control.

Mr Rogers’ team first invested in RPAS technology in 2014 with a multi-rotor solution, to enable them to document the Shell Cove project and survey inaccessible areas. More recently, the company expanded its aerial mapping capabilities with the addition of a RTK-enabled fixed wing plane, the Sirius Pro by MAVinci, and is experiencing significant time savings and improved project documentation as a result.

“The marina project is a large site that involves a number of different designs and a variety of materials, including excavation in an acid sulphate environment and old tip waste removal,” Mr Rogers said.

“The RPAS solutions caught my eye when I received a marketing email from Position Partners, who we’ve had a good business relationship with for many years. I thought they could be an ideal solution for this project and save a lot of time compared with traditional survey methods,” he said.    

Fast, efficient and safe surveying 

Scott uses a Falcon 8 multi-rotor RPAS by Ascending Technologies to conduct daily stockpile volume reports across the site. The fixed wing Sirius Pro is used for site-wide end of month surveys for the marina project, quarry, sub-divisions and road upgrades.

“Both systems are equally good in terms of performance, but I find they are better suited to different applications,” Mr Rogers said. “The Falcon 8 is perfect for conducting smaller aerial surveys and doing my daily volume reports,” Scott said. “It saves my team a considerable amount of time as the stockpiles on the Shellcove project are 3000-4000 cubic metres, which makes them difficult and dangerous for field survey crew to survey on foot.”

“I simply head out each day with the Falcon 8 and use the ‘Quick Survey’ feature to map the stockpile in five to ten minutes,” he said. “There’s no need for a laptop or any other equipment and as soon as I’m done the stockpile can be sent to the crusher. It’s a very fast, efficient and safe way to survey.”

The fixed-wing Sirius Pro is better suited to larger-scale sites, Mr Rogers explains. “The fact it doesn’t require ground control means I can conduct a full site survey in an incredibly short amount of time, without needing to interrupt working machines.”

Completing the picture

Using RPAS technology for the site survey delivers comprehensive data and accurate historical documentation at each stage of the project. “Because there are so many types of material on the marina site and the fact that we are over-excavating areas of the harbour floor in order to backfill it with waste material, keeping accurate records of what has been placed and where, is important,” he added.

He said this level of visual documentation simply wouldn’t be possible with traditional survey methods. “Traditionally you would document the material types and quantities, but having the ability to go back in time and visually look at any given stage of the project is very powerful.

“On the marina project there are many vertical faces on the harbour floor. It is important to keep accurate survey records of these as it impacts upon the future design harbour infrastructure. Because we have complete models from each month, it is easy to check that everything is constructed to design and we can easily show this data to the client at any stage, now or in the future.”

For the quarry surveys, Mr Rogers supplies the data to his client, Hanson, for them to use and manage internally. “Each month I give Hanson the latest design file, which they upload to a new web-based solution called Propeller that enables them to share, visualise and survey the data without needing any further input from my team. It’s another example of a deliverable that you wouldn’t get from traditional methods,” he said.

Scott explained that the monthly aerial surveys save about a day’s work each month and are a far safer and more efficient solution to traditional survey methods. “I usually do the end of month surveys on a Friday and setup the post-processing to run over the weekend so that I have ready-to-go data sets on Monday morning to complete my invoices with,” he said.

Using traditional methods, the same process would involve two and a half days of in-field data capture with a survey crew, followed by a day of data analysis. “Although the end result for getting invoices done would be the same, the data I have from the RPAS is comprehensive,” said Scott. “I can conduct fly-throughs of the entire site in a 3D, virtual environment from my office using Virtual Surveyor software. I can see each layer of rock, clay and topsoil at the click of a mouse. As each material has a different pay rate, it makes working out quantities for invoicing so much easier.”

Scott found the learning and CASA certification process wasn’t as difficult as people might assume. “Yes, there’s a process you have to go through and regulations you have to abide by, you can’t just pick up one of these systems and start using it. I attended a fast-track, 7-day course with Position Partners and once you’ve completed the training and got your licence you’re all set. Using the RPAS and extracting the data is a very simple process.”

As with any new technology, receiving support and training is all-important. “We’ve been well looked after by Gavin and the team at Position Partners, they are always on hand if we need them. We had a technical fault with our first system and they kept us running by conducting surveys for us while the plane was getting repaired,” Scott said.

Keeping machines on track

Another time-saver that keeps Scott and his team in the office and away from the heat and flies on site, is the use of telematics to remotely manage the designs on earthmoving machinery across the project.

“We use Topcon GPS systems across a number of dozers, excavators and graders on site and Position Partners’ Tokara Link system enables us to login to each machine from the office to update the machine to a new design file or troubleshoot a problem,” he said.

Tokara Link removes the need for surveyors to visit a machine in person and transfer a design file via a USB to the control box. Instead, they simply connect to the machine using the Internet and transfer the design remotely.

“Tokara is a great solution and it saves us a lot of time,” Scott said. “If an operator is having technical problems, we try to solve it ourselves first but if we need help, the team at Position Partners in Sydney simply logs in from their office and most of the time we can resolve the problem without anyone actually needing to go out on site and visit the machine.”

Looking at the plans for all five projects that decorate Mr Rogers’ walls in the site office, it is impressive to see how he manages them simultaneously.

“The bigger the jobs get, the better this technology is for you,” he said. “I couldn’t do without it now and I simply wouldn’t be able to run the projects in the same way without it. The RPAS technology in particular is a real game-changer – it’s had a huge impact on our business for the better.”