Monitoring the Madeira Airport Protection Breakwater Using Visual and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Observations

Abstract

An aerial monitoring system was developed for the maritime structures that protect the foundation columns of the Madeira Island Airport runway infrastructure, in the scope of the research project MEGE, to complement the already existing monitoring program of visual observations. For the aerial monitoring of the berm breakwater, with about 770 m in length, a fast data acquisition system was envisaged. Imaging techniques acquired through a high-resolution camera coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used, which allowed for a very fast and efficient automated procedure, compatible with the difficult accessibility to the structure on the seaside. Point clouds corresponding to the breakwater geometry were obtained from the set of aerial images from the camera on board of the UAV, using photogrammetric techniques. In this paper, the two complementary parts of the monitoring of this structure are described and some results are presented.