Modern technologies in surveying art

Surveying service of Nornickel monitors advanced achievements of science and technology on a regular basis with a view to introducing new program products, instruments, procedures and methods in practical solving of complex geotechnical problems in opencast and underground mining. Today, with laser scanning technology and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) being introduced in various life activities, mining companies energetically elaborate methods of using these achievements in industry. These methods may be unmanned trucks, scanning of inaccessible voids and aerial photography of opencast and underground mines. This article describes implementation of the science and technology achievements in surveying of various objects using laser scanning systems which provide the most comprehensive geometry of mining system elements at enhanced safety of operations. After long-term testing of scanning systems, an optimal choice to date is laser scanner Heron Lite. It is used to scan mine openings, boreholes, mineral storage areas, refuse heaps and process equipment. Mining practices expand application domain of unmanned vehicles. There are unmanned vehicles for bathymetric surveying of process water bodies, watered objects and settling ponds. Specialists of the Center for Surveying of Nornickel’s Polar Division together with the members of PRIN company carried out joint testing of hydrographic and bathymetric survey vehicle CHCNAV Apache 4. This remotely manned technology provides information on bottom relief far from a surveyor, which ensures safety of operation, increases surveying speed and enhances quality of the obtained results. In depth-finding, a built-in GNSS receiver performs orientation in survey data and measurements are taken in the local coordinates.