Autonomous LiDAR Drone for Tunnel Inspection: Mapping the Unknown

Inside a mountain in the Kitimat Ranges on BC’s northwest coast is a 475-metre long, 8-metre wide “tailrace” tunnel that transports the outflow water from the hydroelectric generation station in the mountain. The client, Rio Tinto, required a detailed interior survey of the tunnel for ongoing maintenance purposes and the tailrace could not be shut down for inspection. McElhanney provided bathymetric survey expertise to launch an autonomous drone mission that captured 3D scans of the tunnel interior to provide the client with the high-definition data they required for the structure.

Take a tour of Hwy 1 through Goldstream Provincial Park

With the Malahat Corridor Improvement Project, the BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure has been improving the safety of Hwy 1 by installing a median barrier and other upgrades. The stretch of highway which runs through Goldstream Provincial Park is challenging to design solutions for, as it is constrained by the river immediately running next to it, and by park lands on both sides.

Waterfront Centre

This Virtual Reality experience shows the potential of this technology and its benefits for project proposals, public forums, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and more. Laser scanned data, CAD models, and 3D models were used along with programming to create this fully immersive experience.

Engineering Survey of the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch

McElhanney provided surveying services to aid renovations at the library. The objective of the survey was to identify a precise location for a temporary concrete platform supporting a multi-storey crane, and to identify positions to underpin and support the load of the crane and platform.