The miniature unmanned helicopter measures approximately 350mm square with four rotors, and has a video camera bolted on.
The contracting consortium, comprising Lagan Construction, Ferrovial Agroman and Costain, is responsible for creating 14.5km of new roadway on behalf of the Department for Regional Development’s Roads Service.
“With real aircraft, there are limitations in terms of how low it can fly and weather can be a problem,” said deputy project manager John Lee. “With one of these helicopters, you can hover and get in close to structures. You have high-definition quality footage and you can take stills from that, as well as obvious health and safety benefits from not placing people at risk from working at height.”
The cost of using the mini-helicopter is also a fraction of that of a manned aircraft.
As well as the aerial surveying role, the drone was used following a road traffic accident on the A8 in December, said Lee. “We used it to record the incident scene; it gave us an overview of the area and let us see how the traffic management was set up.”
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