Drones are the N.C. Department of Transportation\u2019s newest\ntool in maintaining the safety of the state\u2019s bridges and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved a\nwaiver that allows NCDOT to operate Unmanned Aircraft Systems beyond visual\nline of sight while conducting bridge inspections. This approval is part of\nNorth Carolina\u2019s participation in the FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program, which\nis focused on testing and enabling new innovative uses of drone technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement makes NCDOT the first state transportation\nagency to have been awarded such a waiver, paving the way for other states to\nfully use drones in bridge and infrastructure inspections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are pleased to be leading the way with this fantastic\nnew tool,\u201d said North Carolina\u2019s Secretary of Transportation Eric Boyette.\n\u201cSafety is our top priority at NCDOT, and this new system will enable us to\ncomplete inspections while better protecting our inspectors and the integrity\nof our bridges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The waiver application was developed in part with Skydio,\nthe largest U.S.-based drone maker. Skydio drones are powered by on-board\nartificial intelligence that enables each craft to avoid obstacles in complex\nareas that lack a reliable GPS signal, such as the trusses beneath bridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ben Spain, the NCDOT\u2019s UAS program manager, said drones have\nbeen used since 2016 to conduct bridge inspections. But by enabling the drones\nto move beyond the pilot\u2019s line of sight, the inspections will be able to\ncollect more high-resolution images in difficult to see places so inspectors\ncan better analyze the bridge\u2019s integrity and identify possible problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInspectors will collect images using the drone instead of a\nsnooper truck or having to suspend the inspector from the bridge,\u201d Spain added.\n\u201cThey\u2019ll be able to do these inspections quickly with minimal impacts to the\ntraveling public, like not having to close lanes of traffic for as long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Drones are the N.C. Department of Transportation\u2019s newest tool in maintaining the safety of the state\u2019s bridges and other infrastructure. The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved a waiver that allows NCDOT to operate Unmanned Aircraft Systems beyond visual line of sight while conducting bridge inspections. This approval is part of North Carolina\u2019s participation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-carolina","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/NC-Droneedit-9.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16568,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16566\/revisions\/16568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}