Traditionally, underground water distribution pipeline detection is done by using a GPR cart. However, this tool has several limitations including the low-speed movement, the difficulty in accessing areas above the pipeline, no-automatic mission, etc. To avoid these limitations and improve the efficiency of survey missions, a drone-embedded GPR with UgCS was introduced by Innotech-Drone.
The system has been tested in Teillé, France with our client Balé SE. The water pipeline is a plastic pipe which has been buried 1m underground. The drone has been equipped with a lidar sensor for terrain following.
‘We have flown with a GPR mounted on a drone first. We have then measured the pipeline by GPR cart and compared the difference of geolocation. We have found there are 20cm differences on average between the two measurements. The errors might come from the GPS accuracy and the GPR. To improve the accuracy, we will activate the RTK for georeferencing the data’, Haixing HE, Sales Director & Co-Founder at Innotech-Drone, explained.