Dock-based drone systems capture raw aerial imagery and sensor data on every flight. This data is then processed — either on the dock's edge computing unit or via cloud upload — into actionable deliverables:
Visual (RGB) sensor outputs:
- Orthomosaics — Georeferenced 2D aerial maps stitched from overlapping photos. Used for progress tracking, area measurement, and visual documentation.
- 3D Point Clouds — Dense three-dimensional representations of the site surface. Used for volumetric calculations, terrain analysis, and as-built comparison.
- Digital Surface Models (DSMs) — Elevation models showing the height of all features including buildings, vegetation, and stockpiles.
- Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) — Bare-earth elevation models with vegetation and structures removed (where LiDAR payloads are used).
Thermal sensor outputs (Matrice 4TD/3TD):
- Radiometric Thermal Maps — Temperature-calibrated thermal imagery showing exact surface temperatures. Used for detecting insulation defects, electrical faults, moisture ingress, and equipment overheating.
- Thermal Overlays — Combined RGB + thermal views for contextual analysis.
Automated analysis deliverables:
- Change Detection Reports — Automatic comparison between flights showing what has changed (new construction, stockpile volume changes, vegetation encroachment).
- Progress Tracking Dashboards — Timelapse visualisations, percentage-complete overlays against BIM models or design plans.
- Anomaly Alerts — Automatic flagging of thermal anomalies, structural changes, or security events.
Delivery platforms: Data typically uploads automatically to cloud platforms such as DJI FlightHub 2, DroneDeploy, Pix4D Cloud, or Bentley iTwin. THE FUTURE 3D also delivers raw data in open formats (TIFF, LAS, E57, MP4) that your team owns permanently.
Learn more about our dock-based drone operations and the industries we serve.