UAS has been contracted by various organizations to perform monthly volume monitoring of stockpiles using laser scanning and photogrammetry. Depending on the site, accuracy requirements, and size of stockpile, we may employ various methods to determine volumes quickly and accurately. All our volume calculations were derived from the point clouds obtained, using multiple software such as Geo-Plus VisionLidar, MAGNET Collage, Cloud Compare, Global Mapper, and Pix4Dmapper for the analysis.

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For accessible sites with small to moderately sized stockpiles, we prefer utilizing our handheld LiDAR, the Paracosm PX-80. For stockpiles requiring high accuracy volume monitoring, we use our tripod-based Topcon GLS-2000 laser scanner. For sites with challenging access and/or large stockpiles, our preferred method is unmanned aerial photogrammetry using our fleet of multi-rotor UAVs from DJI or our senseFly eBee Classic. All methods used were coupled with high level of controls established using our new Emlid GNSS receivers, the Reach RS2.