Drones for GPS-denied Underground Mining Areas
All-weather Drone for Inaccessible Areas Underground
For all the hype, GPS-enabled drones cannot operate in some nooks and crannies of underground mining. This is where the Elios 3, produced by Swiss drone company Flyability, fills the gap. Equipped with the high-resolution Ouster OS0-128 Rev 7 LiDAR sensor, in combination with the world’s leading FARO Connect SLAM algorithm, Elios 3 creates incredibly accurate 3D maps.
Drones are changing the way underground and overground mines digitize their sites. With the ability to get immediate aerial perspectives, machine inspections, and 3D modeling, drones are paving the way for innovation. Although the mining industry can be slow to adopt new technologies, specially designed drones are already in use across the globe.
The Elios 3
The Elios 3, produced by Swiss drone company Flyability, is one such specialized drone. The Elios 3 has a unique structure that uses a combination of hardware and firmware to cope with extreme conditions, including underground mines.
The drone can fly in GPS-denied areas, not relying on GPS for localisation. Instead, it uses a simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) algorithm to map and locate itself in its environment by creating a live 3D map. Furthermore, the Elios 3 has a protective, collision-tolerant cage as well as firmware that can recognise and recover from collisions to help it cope with impact during flight.
Drone-based LiDAR with Surveying Payload
Comprehensive data is key to supporting operational decisions. Yet many hazardous environments are beyond the reach of existing data capture technologies.
Conveniently, Flyability’s Surveying Payload turns the Elios 3 into a flying mobile scanner that can fit through openings as small as 50x50cm, and create high-resolution scans beyond line of sight. In this way, it allows industry professionals to provide rapid insights that are not accessible with traditional tools or other UAV technologies.
The high-resolution Ouster OS0-128 Rev 7 LiDAR sensor, in combination with the world’s leading FARO Connect SLAM algorithm, creates incredibly accurate 3D maps and digital twins of the most inaccessible spaces with centimeter precision – for accurate measurements and greater insights.
- Centimetre accurate maps
The Elios 3’s Surveying Payload has higher accuracy and precision than its standard LiDAR payload. It gathers over 1 million points per second, with greater range and clarity in its results.
As part of testing, Flyability found that 95% of points captured are accurate to within 12 mm. This centimeter accuracy means the drone can produce near-identical digital twins of reality. In mines, this empowers clear visualization of the conditions of an area – whether for calculating backfill volumes, monitoring progress or even investigating old workings remotely.
- More robust
The new LiDAR capabilities are also more robust. The Surveying Payload comes with the software FARO Connect. This software has tailored presets that enable it to process LiDAR point clouds from the Elios 3 as efficiently as possible. Between this software and the drone’s enhanced capabilities, the Elios 3 now has greater tolerance for environments with higher symmetry (such as tunnels) which can challenge laser scanners. Testing of the Elios 3’s results identified drift at just 1% – which is lower than previous iterations of the Elios 3’s laser scanner and matches the requirements for many mapping requirements for mining projects.
- Flexible, simple to use, and cost-effective
The Elios 3 presents the ideal tool to add to mining workflows, able to provide high-quality data more safely. It is flexible, simple to use, and cost-effective.
Thanks to its modular design, mine engineers can benefit from the capabilities of its Surveying Payload which includes enhanced range, a denser point cloud, and specialised software that can automatically georeference models and merge multiple point clouds.
- Unlocking a range of applications
By and large, the applications of the Elios 3 in mines are immense – from standard operations such as monitoring stockpiles and mapping stopes or ore passes, to more challenging projects including localising hang-ups, exploring falls-of-ground, and measuring shotcrete thickness, the capabilities of the Elios 3 and its Surveying Payload are near limitless. It can also be deployed for emergency response and crisis management, providing key situational awareness as fast as possible when decision-making is under pressure.
- Improvements in safety and efficiency
On the whole, drones such as the Elios 3 empower significant improvements in terms of safety and efficiency. The drone can be used to scout unsafe environments and gather accurate information for decision-making. It can also work quickly, scanning areas in minutes and cutting any downtime.
In a nutshell, the benefits of the Elios 3 and its mapping payload are clear: higher accuracy, greater access and reduced risks. That’s why the all-weather drone is perfect for underground mining applications.
