Success Story
How Aerotas Helped TD&H Engineering Survey More Land With Fewer People
TD&H Engineering increased flexibility, saved time, and produced a better deliverable for their client with Aerotas.
By the numbers
920 acres surveyed
1 Phantom 4 RTK
4,008 pictures
2 base station locations
2 man crew
10 GCPs
Overview
TD&H Engineering had built a successful drone program and had been using the Phantom 4 Pro for data collection since early 2018. On smaller sites, this platform worked exceedingly well. However, the drawback of the Phantom 4 Pro is that on sites approaching 1,000 acres the number of ground control points required takes a tremendous amount of time. TD&H Engineering aimed to bid on larger sites and determined that the Phantom 4 RTK might be the solution. Darryl F. Witter, RPLS acquired a Phantom 4 RTK from Aerotas in December 2019 and began expanding TD&H Engineering’s drone capabilities.
By partnering with Aerotas, TD&H Engineering was able to increase operational efficiency and reduce the amount of time spent in the field dramatically, this resulted in landing a 920 acre project, surveying that large site with 2 men, turning around deliverables in five days, and producing a higher quality deliverable for the end client.
By choosing Aerotas as a partner Darryl Witter and TD&H Engineering increased the flexibility of their drone program, saved time, and produced better deliverables.
High-quality Surveying and Engineering Services
The mission of TD&H Engineering is to perform high-quality surveying and engineering services meeting or exceeding their clients’ desires and expectations, for a fair price, in a timely manner. TD&H strives to provide innovative solutions to challenging technical problems by assigning professionals who understand the issues and deliver results. They place a high priority on service and measure their success in terms of each client’s success. Thanks to Aerotas, TD&H gains a flexible and efficient data processing partner for delivering results to their diverse clientele ranging from individuals and rural water districts to large corporations in populous cities.
“Using Aerotas to process my data means we can bid on larger jobs without increasing the size of our crew, turnaround projects faster, and produce better deliverables.”
Flexibility
Drone data processing is largely commoditized. There are many automated processing services out there that leave the customer to figure out what to do with the bulk of the data. Darryl F. Witter, RPLS identified that “Aerotas helps us meet critical delivery dates and maintain field crew size while exceeding customer expectations. The analysis Aerotas provides leads to better deliverables, happier customers and higher dollar value contracts.” Darryl F. Witter, RPLS can work on projects from 5 acres to 1,000+ acres with the same drone and same sized crew because he partnered with Aerotas. And, because Aerotas requires no contract and has project-based pricing there is really no risk. Darryl Witter, the Survey Project Manager, puts it this way: “Aerotas allows me to scale-up a LOT when I need it.”
Fully Supported
Darryl F. Witter, RPLS worked in close partnership with the Aerotas Flight Ops team to plan, troubleshoot, and execute his mission. The close collaboration with Flight Ops allowed Darryl to rapidly become familiar with his new Phantom 4 RTK platform and tackle this large project with confidence. TD&H worked with Aerotas Flight Ops on airspace authorizations, unlocking DJI GeoFencing, GCP quantity & distribution, flight altitude, overlap settings, as well as software guidance and troubleshooting. The impact was that Darryl got his Phantom 4 RTK in the air quickly and avoided revisiting the site.
Save Time
In the field, Darryl saved seven days by collecting data with the Phantom 4 RTK. Instead of shooting over 200 GCPs on the 920-acre site, Darryl only had to set 10 GCPs over 920 acres.
In addition, Darryl was able to push the range limits by utilizing a Visual Observer. Part 107 requires the Pilot in Command to maintain Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) with the drone. The Phantom 4 RTK platform will operate well beyond VLOS, but by utilizing a Visual Observer and maintaining radio contact Darryl was able to lawfully extend the range of the Phantom 4 RTK. On the 920 acre site, the takeoff location was only moved once and the drone continued collecting high-quality RTK data up to a mile away in every direction. Having only two takeoff locations on 920 acres is very impressive and a huge time saver.
Then in the office, Darryl was able to skip the photogrammetry and data extraction steps by partnering with Aerotas. Darryl went straight from flying the drone to finishing up in CAD in five days. Darryl received a guaranteed delivery date and an extremely competitive rate from Aerotas that resulted in a 90% cost savings over traditional surveying methods of the same 920 acres.
The Aerotas platform includes high-performance computing architecture and a first-class team of ASPRS Certified Photogrammetrists and CAD Technicians – enabling Aerotas to deliver survey-grade deliverables in days, not weeks. Connecting our tech, infrastructure, and expertise gives clients, like TD&H Engineering, what they've always wanted: fast and predictable turnaround times so that they can deliver to their clients on time.
Better Deliverables
The benefits of Aerotas extend beyond flexibility and time savings and their business impact. Aerotas enables TD&H Engineering to produce a better deliverable for their clients.
“We trust the data enough to extend it to our clients. We are committed to meeting or exceeding our clients’ desires and expectations, and accuracy is hugely important to that mission. With Aerotas the deliverables are very accurate and well within the clients’ tolerances,” explains Witter.
“The partnership with Aerotas has allowed us to scale rapidly while also allowing our internal team to focus on the core functions that support our business.”
Scale the Partnership. Stay Lean.
Even with its growth, TD&H Engineering has kept its drone survey team small as it expanded its partnership with Aerotas. “The partnership with Aerotas has allowed us to scale rapidly while also allowing our internal team to focus on the core functions that support our business,” says Witter. With visibility and control from collection to delivery, everyone can stay on the same page in predicting drone survey costs, bidding on projects, meeting deadlines, and focusing on what customers will want next.
“Every year, we’re growing and taking on larger projects. Aerotas is a big part of that,” states Witter.
If you would like to discuss ways to improve your drone program Aerotas is here to help.
INCREASED FLEXIBILITY | SAVE TIME | BETTER DELIVERABLES
Contact us anytime at (949) 335-4323, or support@aerotas.com