Introduction to Drones (UAVs) for Surveying in the Energy Business

Houston Geological Society
Continuing Education Committee

Introduction to Drones (UAVs) for Surveying in the Energy Business
Workflows and Demonstration
A Half-Day Short Course

by
Mike Allison
Raptor Aerial Services LLC
and
Kwasi Perry
UAV Survey Incorporated

Friday, October 6, 2017, 11:00 am – 4 pm

   Drones seem to be everywhere these days. They are here to stay and are very useful tools being utilized in many industries. This course will provide you a basic understanding of the types of drones, how drones work and how they are being utilized to solve business problems in a more efficient and safe manner. We will cover how to plan, acquire and process the drone data into georeferenced ortho-photomosaics, digital surface models (DSM), 3D models and other products. We will also demonstrate how to import the data into Geographical Information Systems (GIS) systems for further map construction. The last part of the course will involve laying out ground control points (GCPs) and flying a couple of drones to acquire some small aerial surveys.

• History and Types of Drones
• Characteristics of Mapping Drones
• Flight Planning
• Pre-Flight Checks
• Flight Operations
• Return-To-Home (RTH)
• Cloud vs Desktop Processing
• Products & Formats
• Data Product Examples
• Importing Data into GIS Systems
• Taking Measurements in 3D
• Drones vs Traditional Surveying/LiDAR
• 3D Model Accuracy: Drones vs LiDAR
• Ground Control Points (GCPs)
• Demos and Field Exercises

Location:
Star Creek Ranch.
25801 Stockdick School Road
Katy, Texas 77493
(north of Clay Road and west of Highway 99)

NO WALK-UPS ACCEPTED.
Registration:  by 5 PM, Friday, September 1, 2017:           Seats: 30
         $50.00  HGS Members; and HGS Student Members
         $90.00  Non-members
Non-members can save $10 and receive the Member registration price IF they apply for any category of HGS membership online (https://www.hgs.org/membership_overview), submit the application, including payment, then register for the course by calling the HGS Office (713-463-9476) before receiving formal acceptance.

Waiver

Map

Notebook, Certificate of Attendance, Networking Lunch, and refreshments are included
in the Registration price.
Doors open at 10:30 AM, Lunch begins 11 AM.  Presentation and field exercises 12 Noon – 4 PM
Post-class happy hour and pool party ‘til 6 PM.
Registrants will receive an email on Sept 13 with additional details.

By way of introduction, you may view Mr. Perry’s video taped half-hour presentation to a Texas A&M entrepreneurial startup incubator program (SDC): https://vimeo.com/221823367

Mike Allison, Founder, and Owner
Raptor Aerial Services LLC

Mr. Allison has 34 years of experience in the upstream oil & gas (O&G) business. His experience and background in both Geoscience and IT make him uniquely qualified to recognize how IT solutions can solve technical E&P business problems. Most of Mr. Allison’s IT experience has been focused on leading IT teams directly supporting key E&P departments including Geosciences, Engineering, Spatial/GIS, Land and SCADA. He has worked for different O&G companies including two Majors (Gulf Oil and Chevron), Independents (Devon Energy and Fieldwood Energy) and a number of Service Companies (Exploration Logging, Landmark Graphics, Geoscience Data Management and Moblize).

After leaving Fieldwood Energy, Mr. Allison founded a drone services company named Raptor Aerial Services LLC. His company provides aerial mapping surveys, stockpile volumetrics, inspections, data collection and marketing to a variety of industries. The company provides solutions focused on increasing sales, reducing costs, saving time and improving safety. Raptor Aerial Services LLC is fully insured and FAA Part 107 certified.

Mr. Allison’s professional affiliations include HGS (Current Treasurer), AAPG, SPE, and SIM.
As a member of the Continuing Education committee, Mike conceived and initiated the recording of HGS presentations now available at https://www.hgs.org/multimedia_overview

Kwasi Perry,  Lead Consultant, and New Opportunities Coordinator
UAV Survey Incorporated    www.uavsurveyinc.com 

  Kwasi Perry is the Founder of UAV Survey Incorporated, a company that has provided drone-based services such as infrastructure inspection, mapping, aerial surveying, consulting, and training since September 2015.  UAV Survey Inc has clients in Oil and Gas such as Shell; as well as in Law Enforcement (Harris County Sheriff), State Government, and Commercial Real Estate amongst others. One of the company's biggest projects to date was providing drone-based damage assessment for the State of Florida's Emergency Response Team for Hurricane Matthew. Another was a drone mapping project in Haiti for the University of Notre Dame.
  Kwasi is a graduate student in the Geoscience Department at Texas A&M, on hiatus. Some of his experience has included work as a former intelligence analyst at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency where he provided geospatial intelligence support in Afghanistan and Washington D.C.