By: iPadfanzz staff on January 31, 2013
The Federal Highway Administration and the Georgia Department of Transportation is thinking of utilizing drones for inspecting bridges and roads, survey lands with laser mapping, and even alert officials to traffic jams or accidents. The project which has already received $74,984 from the state department will help workers safeguard the 4 million miles nation’s highways crisscrossing the country.
The organization is also working on the roadmap to achieve the desired results.
Among the several states considering the usefulness of civilian drones is Georgia. The state is also competing to become one of several flight-test regions for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration — a step in the FAA's plan to open up U.S. civilian airspace to drones by 2015.
Drones, which till now are known for their deadly role in the military combat in highly hostile environments in the far flung areas of the world, can now be used to help safeguard state roads and bridges, irrespective of their size. For instance, small drones with cameras might take off vertically from the back of a truck to help inspect a bridge. Similarly, the bigger ones – aircraft-size Reaper or Global Hawk drones could spend hours surveying traffic conditions.
It would also be very cost effective to use drones since the operational costs of using manned helicopters doing the same job are pretty high.
The Federal Highway Administration and the Georgia Department of Transportation is thinking of utilizing drones for inspecting bridges and roads, survey lands with laser mapping, and even alert officials to traffic jams or accidents. The project which has already received $74,984 from the state department will help workers safeguard the 4 million miles nation’s highways crisscrossing the country.
The organization is also working on the roadmap to achieve the desired results.
Among the several states considering the usefulness of civilian drones is Georgia. The state is also competing to become one of several flight-test regions for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration — a step in the FAA's plan to open up U.S. civilian airspace to drones by 2015.
Drones, which till now are known for their deadly role in the military combat in highly hostile environments in the far flung areas of the world, can now be used to help safeguard state roads and bridges, irrespective of their size. For instance, small drones with cameras might take off vertically from the back of a truck to help inspect a bridge. Similarly, the bigger ones – aircraft-size Reaper or Global Hawk drones could spend hours surveying traffic conditions.
It would also be very cost effective to use drones since the operational costs of using manned helicopters doing the same job are pretty high.
