The Future of Drone Based Airborne GPR

Advances in drone capabilities have made possible new applications for GPR technology that are limited in part by government regulations. These developments allow for faster, lower cost, higher quality surveys and increased access to sites that may have been too difficult or dangerous to work on before. Improvements in location and orientation data allow for the precision and resolution GPR is known for. With lighter, faster, more user-friendly sensors and drones with longer lasting batteries, things can be done that have never been possible before.

The future of GPR on drones looks like: Transportation and highway safety departments being able to better predict the likelihood of avalanches, because they have GPR data over at-risk zones that people cannot access. Fewer railway derailments from track and ballast problems, because they can survey the lines faster and more often. Increased and more reliable transportation in places that rely on rivers, because the dredgers can do their jobs better and faster. Drone GPR will increase resolution of soil moisture data for better agricultural crop yield predictions. It will allow for faster utility and UXO detection, mapping, and characterization by increasing spatial resolution and data collection speeds. It will lower the risk of surveys in karst and flow field environments, by removing the need for direct contact with rough and dangerous terrain.

It is important to acknowledge that despite the exciting potential for this technology, it still faces some major hurdles. In the United States airborne GPR is severely restricted by regulatory agencies like the FCC and FAA. Drone technology itself, although rapidly improving, still has a long way to go. There is still a big need for even further increases in battery life, sensor to drone integration, and larger payload capacity. GPR developers are in the prototype phase with these sensors and acknowledge the need for continued development. Although drone GPR faces many challenges, the continued developments in drone and GPR technology allow for the creation of new and innovative solutions. This presentation discusses recent GPR drone developments and proposes further areas of research.