The miniaturisation of drone technology in recent years has been a rich source of innovation at Ausdrill. Advances in the capability of cameras capturing thermal imaging and geological survey data, together with a huge reduction in the cost of the drones that carry them, have opened up a wide range of new uses for commercial drones in the mining industry.
Innovation first, technology second to solve problems at Ausdrill
In his role as Innovation and Technology Manager, Clint Ricetti is responsible for developing mining solutions as required by exploration or drill and blast production operations, as well as rolling out new technologies such as UAVs and RealWear assisted-reality headsets.
Clint’s team typically focuses their efforts on identifying and thoroughly defining an existing industry problem, then seeking the appropriate technology to solve it. He considers the primary role of his team to be the delivery of service innovation, rather than technology research. His team also looks for better and safer options to deliver field training.
In recent years, Clint has identified an increasing number of business applications for UAVs due to the rapid increase in the sophistication of thermal imaging and LiDAR cameras, alongside a significant reduction in cost.
Ausdrill is a mining contractor that has operations in most states in Australia, primarily focusing on drill and blast activities, but also conducting exploration drill work. It is an agile and dynamic company that is always looking for new solutions to carry out work more safely and efficiently.
Looking beyond aerial surveys to discover new use cases
Although UAV technology is still somewhat new, Clint knows of other WA mining companies that have also invested in drones and are carrying out common tasks such as photogrammetric surveys of stockpiles and pit surfaces. However, he finds that there are not many operators extending their use outside typical applications.
“We knew what drones could do, but our question really was, what else could we get them to do for us? So we started looking at how we could apply the technology to other problems we have in drill and blast production operations,” Clint recalled.
With their drone equipment, the Ausdrill UAV team offers base-level services, such as filming of blasting activities, return-to-work site inspections, and safety incident reviews. More complex services include site inspections to create LiDAR point clouds, pit wall scanning for structural integrity, identification of wall access points for rope access teams, thermal imaging to identify hazards on fixed plants, and site flora mapping to inform accurate rehabilitation.
Clint explained that their customers typically approach them with a business problem requiring a custom solution, rather than simply choosing a service that is a standard billable hour. “It's more a question of, we have this problem. How do you propose we solve it with drones? Which is where myself and Carol will sit down, we'll have a look at the available technology and we'll see what fits best in that scenario.”
Cameras capturing 3D geology, thermal images and subterranean voids
LiDAR cameras are capable of putting out over 100,000 points a second, up to 1.2 million points a second. So compared to a surveyor walking around for hours on end to collect a few single points, drones can build a much more saturated, and accurate 3D point cloud of a stockpile in a fraction of the time.
Thermal imaging is more of an inspection tool and can help with extensive surveys on fixed plants, such as machinery like conveyor belts and rollers. Objects with a large footprint that takes significant time to inspect can be completed faster and more efficiently with a thermal scan from a drone. When reviewing the resulting footage, operators are able to more quickly identify issues such as the source of heat stress.
Ground-penetrating radar cameras, used to identify subterranean voids, can also now be mounted on a UAV. These cameras had previously only been used terrestrially, either on trolleys or behind vehicles. They can now be used more extensively to discover dangerous voids in blasting areas with the potential to swallow a vehicle or piece of equipment.
There are many applications of UAVs that are improving safety and reducing risk at Ausdrill. Carol Crane shared, “For me, the use of drones on mine sites is a real safety win. The more we can replace dangerous tasks with technology, such as drones, the better off we're going to be.
“If we can send a drone in to do an inspection of a potentially dangerous area, rather than have a person hanging off a rope to inspect it, that's a win for everybody.”
LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging, where a series of lasers are fired out from a camera sensor to bounce off objects. Internal processing then determines the amount of time that that took to return and then assigns a point and a distance to create what's known as a point cloud for use in surveying.
Thermal cameras create images by measuring infrared radiation emanating from objects and assigning a colour palette to particular temperatures. Thermal cameras are often used concurrently with a standard optical camera to provide the option to switch between standard RGB images and thermal images.
Keep across evolving technology by reaching out to industry specialists
UAV hardware has significantly advanced in the last few years. Third-party LiDAR camera solutions previously cost around $120K and required a ground base station. There are now native drone LiDAR cameras, with no base station requirement, capturing improved data quality, and only costing around $40K.
There have been many other technical improvements. Camera payloads that were previously custom-built for a specific drone are now better integrated and quickly transferable between different models. Most LiDAR and thermal cameras now have built-in RGB optical cameras. File formats captured by the cameras are standardised and can be more easily processed by industry software solutions.
Whilst there are now more advanced payloads, better integration, and standardised file formats, Clint points out that there is also a lot of cross-collaboration currently occurring between the industries of mining, oil and gas, and agriculture. So an existing solution may already exist outside an operator’s existing network.
“Definitely speak to someone that has helped solve some of your problems previously. It may be the same payload with a different software. Have a look for what's available from the people that know before you start looking at reinventing the wheel.”
Opportunities for new technologies to solve old problems
With rapidly evolving technology and many new tools becoming available, Ausdrill’s Innovation and Technology team is busy finding new ways to solve old problems in the drill and blast industry.
Advances in drone camera technology, reduction in hardware costs, interoperable components, and standardised data formats are all making it easier to develop commercial drone solutions.
“I like the innovation. I like the problem solving. There's always something new to develop and give out to the industry as a new way of doing things. Probably the most exciting thing is the miniaturisation of technology. And what's exciting about that is, I don't know what it's going to be next”, Clint shared.
He is keen to see more use of drone technology across industry and had additional tips for others starting out:
- Tip 1 - Ask someone in the industry before you go and spend thousands of dollars on something that may not work, or work the way you want it to.
- Tip 2 - There's a lot of technology out there that isn't mainstream, and the solution may be already there. And perhaps not from your own industry.
