Redvers 鈥� Swayze Construction has found that applying cutting edge drone technology to measuring piles has dramatically cut time, expense, effort, and the possibility of injury compared to the old-fashioned way of walking piles.
The Carnduff-based firm had its drone on display at the Redvers Oil Showcase on May 30-31. Jamie Didrick is their crusher manager, based in Carnduff. Randy Swayze runs the business with his brother, Ryan, who operates out of Weyburn.
Didrick said they got their drone two years ago in October, and started to use it right away. The payoff was immediate.
鈥淲e used to walk the piles with a Topcon,鈥� he said, referring to a surveying device.
When deploying the drone, you set a bounding box on the iPad screen, picking four points on a box for it to fly within. It sets a hard boundary that the drone will not stray from. The drone takes pictures constantly. Those images are pieced together in the software, creating a 3-D model of the terrain below it.
Once the model is created, you can select the pile of material you want to measure and draw a polygon around it. This can be done on the iPad, but they find it鈥檚 easier on a computer. You can change the units to cubic metres, cubic yards, tons, or whatever you require.
Didrick said the volumes it measures are accurate to within one per cent, as opposed to two to three per cent with the old method. And that makes a difference.
鈥淭he first year I did 213 flights, so almost daily,鈥� Didrick said. 鈥淭hree times a week for sure.鈥�
They measure piles for rural municipalities and other customers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot better than walking it, too, because we can measure it when we鈥檙e halfway through, or when we think we鈥檙e getting close. And if we need to add another 1,000 yards to what our pile is, we can fly it right away again,鈥� he said. '
鈥淲hereas walking it takes a lot. It鈥檚 strenuous, and it鈥檚 hard on the body.鈥�
The site he showed as an example took 26 minutes to fly, with 32 piles. He explained, 鈥淭hat would take you probably a week to walk.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 far safer, too鈥� said Swayze. 鈥淚n winter time, piles are frozen, so when you try to climb a frozen pile, you slide off.鈥�
Didrick said, 鈥淓ven in the summer, rock is unsure footing. You save time, you save money and you save people. Lots of times you would have two people.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e flown it in -21 C. It eats the batteries faster. It鈥檒l fly in 40 kilometre winds, too. But I wouldn鈥檛 go out with a lot of wind in the winter.鈥�
鈥淭he nice thing about this is we don鈥檛 fly it. It goes on a grid. If it gets off that grid, if it blows off that line it鈥檚 supposed to be on, it will shut down and return home. You can send it back up and it will go to that spot it left off.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 own it. We pay a lease per year from a company from San Francisco. We pay $25,000 American.鈥�
That comes with the software and continual upgrades, as well as insurance and permitting. And compared to a WCB claim for a worker hurting their ankle, this is a good deal.
They have all the necessary permits to fly throughout Saskatchewan, excluding restricted airspace like near the Regina Airport and 15 Wing Moose Jaw.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been great. It鈥檚 saved us so much time,鈥� Swayze said.
鈥淭his is the future,鈥� Didrick said.
鈥淏ecause we have this system, we would have never tried to measure 200-some piles in one year. Whereas now, we can do 207 flights a year. You saw that one pit, with 30 piles in one pit.鈥�
Didrick said, 鈥淲e also use it for drainage. It shoots elevations. We don鈥檛 survey with it. We鈥檙e not surveyors by any means. But I鈥檝e had people ask me to do drainage ditches so they can see where they need to take out (material) so they can drain to get their water off. Plus, we鈥檝e done dugouts. It works great for dugouts, because it鈥檚 the reverse of a pile, right? To see how much clay they鈥檝e taken out, we鈥檝e done that too. It鈥檚 a busy tool.鈥�
鈥淲e use it for pit planning. Before I bid a job, I can take this and we fly it and I can basically get the information we need to bid the job properly. Whereas before, you would drive in, look and guess. Now it鈥檚 more precise,鈥� Swayze concluded.
