FHWA Bridge Inspection Research Project

  • Engineering
  • UAS

19 Feb 2019

ARE is Participating in a UAS Bridge Inspection Research Project for the FHWA

Author: Katelyn Wood, Marketing Coordinator 

Drone highway Bridge inspection

The objective of this research effort is to document best practices for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data obtained from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) used for highway bridge scanning. The focus is on the DATA and how it is currently acquired, processed, stored, viewed, managed and integrated within bridge management assessments.

Understanding how various stakeholders are currently implementing successful workflows for the ingestion of UAS inspection data is critical for developing future National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS). The ability of extracting, cataloging and integrating UAS data during bridge inspections will help track the location of the bridge images, post-capture editing, annexing, and visualization. This includes photos formatted in report generation, live streaming, and interactive 3D Models. A final report will be submitted to the FHWA outlining the findings of the research project and shared with FHWA hosted webinars and TechBriefs.  ARE-AirShark, in conjunction with Futron Aviation, Kimley-Horn, and VHB is proud to be part of the research effort.

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