Underground infrastructure sensing using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

• Main Authors: Konakchiev, Galin, Salotti, Foster J, Jordan, Mark, Tobiassen, Thorin, Kueny, Todd, Mizgorski, Jason, Starr, Justin, Alford, Nate
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.08.2023
• Subjects: AEROPLANES; AIRCRAFT; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; AVIATION; CONTROLLING; COSMONAUTICS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; HELICOPTERS; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TESTING; TRANSPORTING

One aspect provides a method, including: obtaining sensor data from a ground penetrating radar (GPR) unit; analyzing, using a processor, the sensor data to detect a first object and a second object, the second object being associated with the first object based on location; identifying, with the processor, an underground pipe feature based on the analyzing; associating a position of the underground pipe feature with a location in a pipe network; selecting a subset of the pipe network including a pipe segment associated with the position of the underground pipe feature; and providing the subset of the pipe network as displayable data to a display device. Other aspects are described and claimed.