News

Arkendale H. & Wasdale H. UAV Survey

Over the last 8 months we have been optimising settings for collecting data with our UAVs in the intertidal environment where safe access cannot be gained to measure GCP or check points. One of our testing locations has been the site of two wrecks which caused the collapse of the original Severn Crossing, a rail bridge between England and the Forest of Dean which stood until the 1960's (https://www.severntales.co.uk/severn-bridge-disaster.html).  These wrecks offer an ideal location for testing over, as such we have performed several flights adjusting settings and examining the results. We can achieve centimetric repeatability across different: vehicles, flights, days & months in the horizontal and vertical planes giving us confidence to collect data in this manner. 

To carry out a MBES survey over these wrecks would require significant planning, organisation and man power due to the difficulties in working in such a tidal estuary. We were able to deploy our UAV and conduct several flights within one hour with little risk and much less of a carbon footprint. Hydrography in the Severn Estuary is made difficult by the tides, fluid mud and ever changing banks; by minimising the use of vessels to collect data where possible the operation can be made safer, more efficient and at a lower cost both monetary and to the environment.

The data has been referenced to Lowest Astronomical Tide and provided to the UKHO, this data provides a significant leap in detail and accuracy compared to previous surveys. This data has relevance to safety of navigation, archeological, and monitoring uses.

One of the point clouds can be seen below, note the detail and density of measurements over the highest features giving in confidence when reporting least depth of the obstruction.

Teignmouth Survey

We deployed our new UAV to survey the drying areas of Teignmouth at low water early in January 2026 giving excellent coverage to waters edge, weighing under 900g including RTK antenna makes it currently legal to operate in the 'open A1 category'. Three flights were undertaken within two hours. RTK check points (not GCP's) were taken on the shore to verify the data against where safe access was possible. The result was an accurate set of data referenced to chart datum serving as an excellent demonstration of the benefits of this method and a baseline for future surveys.