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Queen’s PhD candidate and researchers are developing leading edge drone and digital twinning technology.

The use of drones in place of humans in dangerous environments is becoming increasingly important, from high rise window washing and fighting wildfires, to surveying the structural integrity of buildings and bridges. The integration of advanced technologies like sensors, drones, digital twins, and artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way industry monitors and maintains infrastructure, which has traditionally been done by a person walking around the structure, or by using a crane or scaffolding, manually noting or taking photos.

Queen’s University’s is bringing together students, researchers, and industry to further explore these advanced technologies.

Ingenuity Labs researchers are working towards the use of drone technology . The data collected will supplement existing sensor data used to monitor bridge behaviour as well as visual inspections conducted by the City. Drones can be especially useful in hard-to-access parts of the structure, and the collected data can be used to build a digital twin that can be used as a baseline for future monitoring.

Combining conventional methods of visual inspection of infrastructure with advanced technology means improved time and cost factors, as well as faster, safer, and more precise inspections. By utilizing drones for data collection and digital twins enhanced by AI for analysis, engineers are equipped with powerful tools to monitor, assess, and maintain infrastructure in ways previously unimaginable.

At the forefront of integrating drones, digital twinning, and AI for structural integrity assessments is (MDC), who has developed two projects in collaboration with Ingenuity Labs.

The first project, funded by , is being conducted by Master’s student Nick Chodura, and supervised by Drs. and . Dr Greeff is an Assistant Professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, while Dr. Woods is an Assistant Professor in the department of Civil Engineering and the Mitchell Professor in Intelligent Infrastructure monitoring at Ingenuity Labs, both within Smith Engineering at Queen’s.

“We meet regularly with the student and give them feedback on what they're doing and suggest possible next steps to further the project,” says Dr. Greeff, of working with the student on the Mitacs project. “It's a blend of supervision and mentorship, guiding students towards the most promising outcomes by leveraging our experience and insights."

“Our first project started last year and will go until August 2025,” says Derek Boase, AI and Robotics Research Lead with MDC, who has also started his PhD with Queen’s University. “This project is focused on using drones to look for deficiencies across a multitude of different roof types."

In addition to feedback from their supervisor-mentors, MDC also provides feedback from an industrial standpoint.

The drones used in the project belong to Ingenuity Labs and the structures evaluated are several buildings on Queen’s University campus.

“Drones are rapidly becoming the standard for structural inspections due to their ability to access difficult-to-reach areas safely and efficiently. Using a drone that can fly around and take hundreds to thousands of photos, depending on the size of structure, and then leveraging the use of AI to strategically examine the images, can save weeks’ worth of work,” says Boase.

Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including those used by Queen’s in these projects, are equipped with advanced sensors such as high-resolution cameras, LiDAR, infrared sensors, and GPS systems, capable of capturing detailed data from hard-to-reach areas.

“Flying over and around a structure, the drone can capture the building in three dimensions and then create a database of digital scans,” says Dr. Woods. “And so, if you're scanning over multiple years then you would have multiple 3D models [digital twins] that you could then compare and contrast the difference to look for defects and challenges that might be present, and to offer insights into how environmental factors like weather, stress loads, and material degradation might impact the integrity of a structure."

AI can play a crucial role in processing and analyzing the massive amounts of data generated by drones and digital twins by detecting patterns and anomalies that might not be detected by human inspectors. These systems can also prioritize the severity of detected issues and provide engineers with insights to make informed decisions.

The next project that Queen’s will be working on with MDC is Boase’s PhD thesis, in which he will be working again with Dr. Greeff as well as , an Assistant Professor with Electrical and Computer Engineering in Smith Engineering. Boase's PhD thesis is also in collaboration with MDC and will leverage the research expertise at Queen’s to develop how drones can use AI to autonomously determine the best evaluation strategy.

“We will be developing planning tools to make the drones more autonomous by considering how where they can fly and take pictures in order to produce the best model for analysis safely and efficiently,” says Dr. Gammell.

“We are looking at improving the AI algorithm so that as the drone is flying, it is evaluating in real-time and moving to the next set of data, rather than having an operator guiding it and hoping that all of the needed imagery has been captured,” adds Boase.

“As these technologies continue to evolve, we expect to see better algorithms developed and hopefully more autonomy,” says Dr. Greeff, whose work focuses on aerial and field robotics, control systems, learning-based control, multi-robot systems, and vision-based navigation. “In my research, we are evaluating how unmanned vehicles, and that includes drones, land, and also marine vehicles, can navigate different conditions while running continuous assessments with minimal intervention."

“Through these collaborations with industry, we are advancing infrastructure management technologies, promoting safe and more efficient practices for builders, managers, and engineers,” says Dr. Gammell. “The collaborations are a win for both parties."

As for future projects that Ingenuity Labs is working on?

“We're working on all sorts of different inspection problems in civil engineering,” says Dr. Woods. “For example, we also have a project right now on underwater inspection of infrastructure using autonomous robotic boats, which have sonar, inspecting the submerged piers [columns] of a bridge. And that's unique problem because it would have traditionally required scuba divers to go down there and have a look and see what's happening."

“We also have a project where we're exploring using multiple UAVs – it makes a lot of sense if you can send a swarm of UAVs rather than just one for time efficiency,” says Dr. Greeff. Using more than one UAV, Dr. Greeff explains, “has applications in search and rescue or even in maritime surveillance capabilities."

“Everything that we do is trying to push the envelope of autonomy in more and more complex environments,” she adds.

If you are a technology-based company looking to partner with Queen’s University on a research project, contact Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation to speak with one of our Partnerships Development Officers.

With funding from Mr. Bruce Mitchell, Ingenuity Labs brings together researchers from across our campus in order to foster innovative research, education, collaborations and partnerships with industry, communities, and the world under the main themes of smart environments and infrastructure, human sensing and assistive devices, and intelligent mobile systems. Ingenuity Labs also operates in part with the generous support of the .

Queen’s University researchers have gained recognition for the discoveries they have made in medicine, engineering, and the sciences, and innovations that have improved the lives of people around the world. To make sure that the university and the public continue to benefit from this work, Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation (QPI) promotes the discoveries of university researchers who have assigned their intellectual property to Queen’s and whose work is ready for licensing and commercial application.