Slope Inspections with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Abstract

In Malaysia, there are plenty of natural slopes trimmed for the construction of public transport infrastructure. This causes the slope structure becomes unstable and can cause an avalanche. Constant monitoring of the slope surface structure is made to obtain an early warning before collapse. The slope monitoring activities that often practiced are extremely high risk. Usually, maintenance personnel will climb up to the top of the slope to take pictures for the purpose of monitoring reports. Therefore, this research aims to examine the extent the usage of micro UAV aircraft that could help in monitoring the slope. This study was carried out on the slope category A (High) near the exit Plaza Tol Ayer Itam, North-South Expressway. The process involved in this study is, planning and preparation before the flight, data retrieval using UAV for the flight at an altitude of 50 meters to be used as a model slope 3D using software Agisoft PhotoScan and flying height of 2 meter for identifying structural damage slopes and effectiveness appropriate height to capture the image for the identify the damage. The results of this study, a total of 4 locations of damage to the structure of the slopes have been identified and the maximum flight distance capture for detecting damage of the crack is 9 meter height, while for damage vegetation cover types were as high as 50 meters from the slope surface structure.