Volume Computation of a Stockpile – A Study Case Comparing GPS and Uav Measurements in an Open Pit Quarry

Abstract

The following paper aims to test and evaluate the accuracy of UAV data for volumetric measurements to the conventional GNSS techniques. For this purpose, an appropriate open pit quarry has been chosen. Two sets of measurements were performed. Firstly, a stockpile was measured by GNSS technologies and later other terrestrial GNSS measurements for modelling the berms of the quarry were taken. Secondly, the area of the whole quarry including the stockpile site was mapped by a UAV flight. Having considered how dynamic our world is, new techniques and methods should be presented in numerous fields. For instance, the management of an open pit quarry requires gaining, processing and storing a large amount of information which is constantly changing with time. Fast and precise acquisition of measurements regarding the process taking place in a quarry is the key to an effective and stable maintenance. In other words, this means getting an objective evaluations of the processes, using up-to-date technologies and reliable accuracy of the results. Often legislations concerning mine engineering state that the volumetric calculations are to present ±3% accuracy of the whole amount. On one hand, extremely precise measurements could be performed by GNSS technologies, however, it could be really time consuming. On the other hand, UAV photogrammetry presents a fast, accurate method for mapping large areas and calculating stockpiles volumes. The study case was performed as a part of a master thesis.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based mapping in engineering geological surveys: Considerations for optimum results

“…Similar results and techniques are also reported in Draeyer and Strecha (2014) for the determination of stockpile volumes and in Raeva et al (2016) for the case of mining in quarries.…”

Structure from motion photogrammetry in ecology: Does the choice of software matter?

“…To reduce the influence of the “human factor,” the same location (pixel coordinates) of georeferenced high contrast markers in the aerial 2D images was used across the four different software. The citations given alongside indicate other literature examples that have utilized these software in ecology research: 3DFlow Zephyr Aerial (little evidence of use in ecology, though widely used in urban environments, e.g., Vassena & Clerici, ; Peel, Luo, Cohn, & Fuentes, ; Azzola, Cardaci, Mirabella Roberti, & Nannei, ). Agisoft Photoscan (Cunliffe et al, ; Dandois et al, ; Hoffmann et al, ; Javernick, Brasington, & Caruso, ; Lucieer, Turner, King, & Robinson, ; Obanawa & Hayakawa, ). Pix4D (Magtalas, Aves, & Blanco, ; Ouédraogo, Degré, Debouche, & Lisein, ; Raeva, Filipova, & Filipov, ). MICMAC (Forsmoo et al, ; Lisein, Pierrot‐Deseilligny, Bonnet, & Lejeune, ; Ouédraogo et al, ; Tournadre, Pierrot‐Deseilligny, & Faure, ; Tournadre, Pierrot‐Deseilligny, & Faure, ). …”

UAV Remote Sensing Surveillance of a Mine Tailings Impoundment in Sub-Arctic Conditions

“…UAV-SfM has recently been applied in mapping surface displacement in various fields, such as glaciology and landslide monitoring [17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, most mining-related research utilizing UAVs has focused on mapping open pit and stockpile geometry [23][24][25][26][27], and, to our knowledge, there is no published, peer-reviewed research addressing the utilization of UAVs in the context of mine tailings.…”