Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Bridge Inspection Demonstration Project

The increasing costs of bridge inspections are a concern for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) may help alleviate these costs and improve the quality of bridge inspections. The overall goal of the UAV Bridge Inspection Demonstration Project was to study the effectiveness of utilizing UAV technology as it could apply to bridge safety inspections. The project team investigated the technology on four bridges located throughout Minnesota. The project team evaluated the UAVs effectiveness as it could apply to bridge inspections based on UAV field results. Various UAV capabilities were utilized to evaluate current technologies as they relate to use in bridge inspections. This study details the advantages and challenges of potentially using UAVs to aid in bridge inspection, an analysis of current and future UAV technologies as they relate to bridge inspection, and an analysis describing how current and future technologies adhere to the National Bridge Inspection Standards.