The landfill industry’s adoption of drones is quickly reaching a tipping point. It is estimated that approximately 15 percent of all landfill operations are using drones for their aerial mapping; it is widely believed that within three years over 80 percent of all landfills with be regularly using drones into their operations.
By Michael Singer
With all of the press attention on drones and the beginning of real commercial adoption, landfill operators of all sizes are exploring and in many cases realizing the benefits that drones can bring to their organizations. “Drones are being used at an increasing number of waste disposal facilities and provide real-time imagery of what is happening at a site,” says David Biderman, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). “They help landfill operators maximize airspace, assess slope stability and monitor their facility’s operations for erosion, standing liquids and hot spots. They are also used to assess cap integrity and are particularly useful for performing damage assessments after major weather events.”
Benefits of Drones
Throughout the U.S., landfill operators, civil engineers and surveyors, among others, collect aerial images using drones or piloted aircraft. These high resolution images are stitched together using specialized photogrammetry software from which highly detailed three dimensional models are created and used for precision mapping, topography and/or airspace measurements.
This mapping and surface modeling data is being used to enhance landfill design and improve operational efficiency. Tracking the growth of active landfill cells, monitoring potential perimeter issues, calculating remaining landfill site life expectancy, mapping ground swell, compaction, erosion and maximizing airspace are all benefits that are being derived from drone data. Additional sensors are used to monitor and track greenhouse gas emissions and provide data driven insights to identify problems earlier, improve safety and enhance overall operating efficiency.
Many landfills traditionally develop an annual topographic map and have oftentimes used piloted aircraft to acquire these images. For many sites, the same output can be created using drones to capture the images, yielding improved accuracy, quicker access to data, enhanced safety and reduced costs. Furthermore, landfill operators are seeing the operational benefits and are collecting this data with greater frequency, either monthly or quarterly.
Some landfills have been slow to adopt drones into their operations due to regulatory, insurance, safety and privacy concerns. While these are all real issues, with proper planning and professional guidance they are all issues that can be satisfactorily addressed and should not prevent the implementation of a drone solution.
Deploying a Drone Solution
Successfully deploying a drone solution in a landfill operation requires a plethora of skills and expertise. The requisite skills extend far beyond the ability to safely fly a drone and capture pictures. A team of industry leading professionals that bring not only drone expertise, but also photogrammetrists, surveyors, AutoCAD and LiDAR specialists, software engineers, IT data storage, security and networking professionals, among others should be involved in the process. This interdisciplinary team helps customers manage complex issues, making data more timely and available to enhance core business processes, workflow and operating efficiency.
Whether a landfill operation uses a service provider, internal resources or the combination of both, the steps to achieve quality drone mapping are similar. Figure 1 provides a high level overview that summarizes some of the requisite steps from Image Acquisition through Image Processing and Reporting. It is imperative that all of the various landfill operation stakeholders with an interest in the reported drone data provide input and help define the project’s scope early on so that the mapping outputs meet their intended uses and requirements.
A Growing Solution
The landfill industry’s adoption of drones is quickly reaching a tipping point. A year ago, some were exploring with pilot projects the use of drones for aerial mapping. Today, we estimate that approximately 15 percent of all landfill operations are using drones for their aerial mapping; it is widely believed that within three years over 80 percent of all landfills will be regularly using drones into their operations.
A drone and the ability to fly it legally and safely is only a very small component of an effective enterprise drone program. It is imperative that many different skills and expertise come together to make a drone program effective and have it yield real and sustainable value to an organization.
Michael Singer is CEO of DroneView Technologies (Bloomfield Hills, MI), an aerial mapping and geospatial services company. DroneView Technologies has flown thousands of successful missions for clients in more than 25 different states throughout the country. They bring significant domain expertise and a consultative perspective and enjoy focusing on complex solutions with high value add for clients. Michael can be reached at (800) 235-9400 or via e-mail at [email protected].