PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As a part of the Port of Melbourne’s strategic approach to the management of Melbourne’s cargo and container port, The Port of Melbourne wished to trial the use of unmanned aircraft to monitor the condition of rock revetments along the Yarra River Rock Embankment for subsidence and failures.

The objective of this survey was to consider the use of unmanned aircraft technology for the assessment of the condition of rock revetments and to study the value and efficiency of applying unmanned systems to generate the required datasets. It also looked to establish optimum operational specifications, conditions and process for future rock revetment surveys.

Uaviation proposed the use of photogrammetric principals to map and model the sample revetment in 3D and to provide a data set for desktop inspection of revetment condition.

From this data, bespoke automated and semi-automated imagery analysis techniques have been developed to measure the condition of revetments in an objective, statistically robust and efficient manner.

For example: one method of imagery analysis that Uaviation has developed, allows for the quantification of S-curve development in rock revetments. This is achieved by analysing the cross-section data against a linear model. Another analysis technique calculates and quantifies voids and rock displacement through the measurement of chaos within a discrete image.