Mapping a complex industrial plant with Artec Jet SLAM-based LiDAR

Environmental engineering often calls for accurate spatial data. However, there are many places where conventional surveying tools can’t operate. Buildings with metal cladding block GPS signals, while poor lighting makes it difficult to use photogrammetry modeling.

Similarly, space-restricted underground sites are also a challenge for tripod-mounted LiDAR devices, which require line-of-sight scans from multiple fixed positions. When a project demands volumetric measurements, regulatory compliance checks, and detailed as-built documentation all at once, the limitations of these traditional methods become painfully clear.

If you had to scan huge piles of internal waste, for instance, stored in a GPS-denied structure, issues like connectivity, lighting, height, and accuracy all rear their heads. Overcoming such drawbacks is vital, as it’s necessary to measure waste for shipping and environmental reasons.

When planning for disposal, it may also be necessary to map the route from street level, through doors, down staircases, along hallways, and into basements. Working out narrow geometries in cramped conditions while capturing all angles with traditional surveying would be tricky, time-consuming, and require multiple site visits – but not for Artec Jet, this is where it excels.

Adapting to every environment

Deployable in multiple configurations, Artec Jet is highly versatile, allowing it to adapt to different environments on the fly. As such, the device effectively replaces workflows that rely on separate pieces of equipment, without requiring users to compromise on capture coverage or accuracy.

In this case, Artec Jet was deployed in drone mode to digitize inside the facility. Doing so was critical to capturing the full height and surface area of waste piles (something that ground-based LiDAR wouldn’t be able to achieve). Jet’s autonomous flight capability also came in handy, as the building restricted GPS access, so it would otherwise have been impossible to fly inside.

Within just 15 minutes, the drone had captured the building’s entire interior, as well as each waste pile. Jet was then taken outside to scan the structure’s exterior, completing the whole job in under 45 minutes. Had photogrammetry been used, it would have taken at least half a day – and the resulting data would have lacked details like incinerator stacks, which LiDAR provides.

When it came to scanning the underground storage area, Artec Jet was detached from the drone and carried on foot. The path from street to basement was too confined and convoluted for a drone, but perfectly suited to walking, which took only 10 minutes. No advance site visit or tripod repositioning was required, and no details were ultimately missed.

For both indoor and outdoor mapping, Artec Jet’s colorization camera was equipped. This overlays color onto point clouds, adding visual context that makes the data far easier to interpret – an especially important aspect when it comes to project handoff and compliance reporting.

Artec Jet data is captured and processed using Artec Twins, a new platform designed specifically for handling large 3D datasets. Inside the software, users can turn point clouds into complete surfaces, carry out basic measurements, or export in industry-standard file formats like LAS, LAZ, PLY, and E57 for in-depth site analysis, monitoring, planning, and more.

Addressing the wider civil engineering sector

Volume measurement, regulatory compliance, underground infrastructure mapping – these are all common applications across the civil engineering sector. While analyzing such environments isn’t necessarily difficult, gaining accurate spatial data can become a bit of a bottleneck. Artec Jet addresses this challenge with its ability to switch things up at a moment’s notice.

Autonomous flight removes the dependency on GPS, opening up metal structures, tunnels, and other shielded environments that would otherwise require expensive or time-consuming workarounds. And because Jet’s software processes raw data into point clouds quickly on-site, the turnaround from capture to deliverable is much faster than photogrammetry allows.

Of course, tripod-mounted LiDAR solutions like Artec Ray II still have their place. There are certain fine details that can’t be captured with Jet’s peak accuracy of 10 mm. Small objects and components inside wider scenes, for example. Fortunately, Ray II and the wireless, handheld Artec Leo can be used in accuracy-critical areas, with results being combined in Artec Twins.

Highly detailed scans captured on any scale have clear applications in AEC, mining, public safety, defense, and other forms of civil infrastructure management – especially in GPS-denied, complex environments that engineers are encountering for the very first time.

To find out more about Artec Jet, please contact sales@artec3d.com.