Scan, Visualize, Ensure: Technology Vital to Reducing Utility Strikes

Almost universally, construction companies have redoubled their efforts to reduce the incidence of underground utility strikes. While conventional means such as checking as-built drawings, calling 811, the national call-before-you-dig number and soft-digging have helped, the problem persists.

The 2021 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report published last October by the nonprofit Common Ground Alliance shows that from 2019 and 2021 the number of reported damages held steady or slightly increased. The U.S. total in 2021 was 192,745.

Haskell, through Dysruptek, its venture capital and innovation arm, has leveraged technology to implement three additional steps to Scan the subsurface, Visualize the impediments and Ensure a safe dig, all demonstrated in the adjacent video. Here is a brief description of each step courtesy of Hamzah Shanbari, Director of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives.

Scan

The use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is fairly common, but the resulting scans generally require special expertise to decipher that isn’t immediately available. The Screening Eagle GS1000 cuts out that delay and middleman with what it calls “the most efficient real-time workflow and technology to scan and digitize the subsurface.

Shanbari: “It shows you the data in a more visual way that any users can see. It overlays a 2-D scan on a Google Map, and you can change the depth. Immediate feedback, very good visualization on-site.”

Visualize

Information from the GPR and other data are combined to create a 3-D model that then can be fed to an augmented reality headset, such as the Trimble XR10, which is a self-contained holographic device that mixes real and virtual images.

Shanbari: “Now you're visualizing the actual pipes. It's an augmented reality solution that helps people on the job site visualize in real time where those utilities are located.”

Ensure

Last year, Dysruptek became an early investor in RodRadar, an Israeli startup developing a disruptive sensor technology to detect underground hazards. This year, Haskell became the first contractor in the United States to take delivery of RodRadar’s operationalized LDR Excavate digging bucket. 

Embedded in the bucket, the revolutionary Live Dig Radar® technology overcomes the limitations of existing technologies, detecting objects underground utilities during earthwork at any depth. The bucket uses standard attachment systems and can be installed on any excavator. On the surface and during trenching, LDR Excavate creates a new scan with each pass in different soils and types of substrates, consistently identifying targets in proximity to the bucket and alerting the operator to hazards without the need for expert analysis. 

Shanbari: “So, after you you're scanning, after you model, after you're visualizing, you ensure. You ensure that you're still scanning before you continue to dig just an additional layer to help us mitigate those utility strikes.”