Future Aerial were delighted to be chosen as the aerial data and filming partner for Invisible cities, the pioneering documentary which showcases some of the most advanced 3D visualisation techniques to delve deep into the Athenian past.

You can watch the documentary for a limited time here

The programme uses a combination of the latest 3D-scanning technology and Future Aerial's drone data to reveal the historical secrets of ancient Athens and tell the story of how this remarkable city created the world's first democracy two and a half thousand years ago.

The extremely talented team at Scanlabs have also created a breathtaking fly-through of the data to allow you to explore the model as never before seen:

The Acropolis is a sacred hill in the heart of Athens with the Parthenon at its peak. Beside it is a smaller temple known as the Erechtheion, named after Erechtheus, a mythical king of Athens. The ancients believed that the Gods Athena and Poseidon once walked here. It was specially designed to preserve the sacred mythology of Athens.

The documentary provides a superb example of some of the ways we can use 3d models to digitise the environment around us, measurable and accurate to the millimeter this data can be used for so many applications.

For more information on our work in this exciting area please get in touch here

After a great 2 days at the NEC last week catching up with established clients and meeting many new and interesting delegates, one thing is clear from the event: "Quality data has never been so important to inform decision making."

Our GIS expert Andrew Blogg enjoyed a packed out seminar and was on hand to give sage advice for those commissioning aerial work for complex projects.

To find out more about our work in marine, coastal and flood please get in touch here 

Future Aerial honoured to be back again for the Open at Carnoustie.

Blessed with uncharacteristically good weather this years visits provided many highlights, modelling and measuring the historic landscape of the pristine course on the Angus coastline.

The most northerly course on The Open rota, Carnoustie has hosted golf’s oldest major on seven occasions. Carnoustie has a reputation for being the toughest venue on the rota with the demanding closing four holes being the scene of many dramatic Open moments.

To understand more about our work in Golf please get in touch here

Future Aerial recently completed a 24km survey and inspection of critical flood defences on the South coast of England.

The project, led by Royal Haskoning DHV and commissioned by the Environment Agency aimed to Survey and inspect large stretches existing flood defences between Lymington, Portsmouth and the Isle of White. The coastal and flood defences in this area consist of sea walls, breakwaters and revetments which all require regular maintenance and monitoring of these sensitive areas is crucial to extrapolate the coastal erosion rates and predict possible future shoreline positions.

As a key data capture partner for this project Future Aerial were required to deliver high resolution models of the structures and surrounding salt marshes, achieving resolutions and accuracy's far beyond that possible with traditional methods including manned aircraft LIDAR.

The method employed for this survey was a combination of high resolution, low level overlapping vertical and oblique photography to produce the models with the additional value that the individual imagery can be used for close quarter, detailed asset inspection.

For more information on our work in Coastal, Marine and Flood please contact us here 

The National trust commissions ground breaking survey of an architectural treasure.
With significant restoration and remedial work being conducted on the castle and its grounds during 2018 the requirement for a highly accurate survey led to one of the most interesting projects Future aerial has been involved in to date.

Laser scanning was used to build the interior of the model and Future Aerial provided the external drone based photogrammetry model, the two models were later merged to create one extremely detailed digital version of the island and its castle.

Still home to the St Aubyn family as well as a small community, this iconic rocky island is crowned by a medieval church and castle - with the oldest buildings dating from the 12th century.

If you would like more information on Future Aerial's architectural survey work please contact us here.

How can the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems truly fulfil the promise of creating efficiency's, maximising insight and increasing safety? The answer: A careful approach, meticulous planning and a deep understanding of the limits of the technology.

Future Aerial have extensive history in bridge inspections having performed some of the first ever significant UAV inspections in the UK.

Bridges present a good example of the incredible cost savings that can be gained by using drone technology (we can create an average of ¼ to a 1/3^rd cost saving) with increased quality of data and significant time efficiency's gained over a 100% traditional rope access inspection. Bridges also present a good example of the scale of complexity and planning that need to be employed to add this value in terms of logistics, legality and safety.

QE11 Bridge

Working closely with XEIAD (engineering and rope access company) as part of a sub deck principle inspection of the main span of the QEII Bridge, Future Aerial were able to collect high definition imagery of approximately 500m of the most difficult access over the river Thames.

Even a small and seemingly simple bridge inspection often requires hours of detailed planning, risk assessments and a thorough methodology but the QEII Bridge is a long way from being small or simple. Crossing one of the UK’s busiest waterways and carrying one of London’s main arterial motorways, the M25,  is also a highly monitored potential terrorist target with 24 hour military surveillance above and below the waterline.

Whilst the planning process for the QEII Bridge was several months in the making with the inclusion of the bridge Management Company, Thames Port Authority, local police, London ATC, all local emergency services, local council, etc. Future Aerial’s bespoke planning systems utilising Dronecloud allow us to take extremely complex projects and make them turn-key.

Future aerial innovation cycle is simple:

1. Work with clients to find a challenge where we believe we can add value
2. Proof of Concept
3. Trials
4. Using the FDC (Futuredronecloud) make it a “turn-key” Product
5. Roll the ‘Product’ to a repeatable simplified process for change monitoring.

Below is an example of the level of detail Future Aerial attained allowing Engineers to examine individual bolts in otherwise extremely difficult areas to access.

Future Aerial effectively replicates some of the detail gained through the use of rope access, without the traffic control requirements, and at significantly lower cost in terms of equipment and traffic control needs. Future Aerial can provide 3D modelled and infrared outputs of bridges and related structures, effectively identify concrete delamination, steel degradation and other areas in need of attention or physical intervention.

Future Aerial have been applying advanced aerial imaging techniques to buildings of all kinds over the years and when it comes to large industrial buildings and high rise social housing, its easy to understand where the benefits can be realised.

In this case a 4 story block of flats needed inspecting for a large National social housing provider, the roof has no access from internal or external means and the only way to inspect the condition of a building like this above the second story traditionally would be to erect scaffold at great expense.

At future Aerial we can provide everything from a photographic inspection through to advanced BIM (Building information modeling) compliant models for architectural redesign and deeper understanding for major alterations.

In this case a model has been created and each face of the building can be separated and viewed as high definition, measurable images (ortho photos) for post analysis.

The Roof structure has been modelled separately and due to the fact that the image is rectified using GPS ground control it is possible to measure exactly where problem areas are occurring and what remedial work will be necessary allowing in some cases the ability to fix a problem from the inside whilst avoiding large scale scaffolding.

(Model below is for reference purposes only actual data available on request)

Future Aerial utilised industrial grade equipment to attain extremely high resolution so that every detail of the building condition can be reviewed.

Outputs for the inspection included - Ortho rectified Tiff, Point cloud and meshed model.

For more information regarding Future Aerials work with BIM, building inspections and asset management please contact us here

Future Aerial insights - featuring in this months Construction and & Civil Engineering magazine

"The  most vital part of applying drone technology is understanding what kind of data is possible and what outputs are most appropriate for a specific purpose..."

http://www.ccemagazine.com/2016/10/10/in-the-drone/

For more information about our work in construction and engineering pleaseget in touch here