Intel is working with the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation in using drones to restore stretches of the Great Wall of China.
Intel is working with the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation (CFCHC) to keep the Great Wall on the top of world travelers’ lists – using drones to restore one of its most famous stretches that has proven too dangerous and costly for traditional preservation methods. Due to its dangerously steep and wild terrains, the 12-mile portion known as the Jiankou section is rapidly decaying and has never received efforts towards restoration … until now.
Traditionally, surveys are conducted manually over the course of a month, using a tape measure or visual inspection, producing unreliable data that is dangerous for the team to gather, if it can be gathered at all. Through this partnership, commercial-grade Intel Falcon 8+ drones survey the Wall, capturing more than 10,000 hi-res aerial images that are stitched together into a 3D model. Using this model and other critical captured data, conservation teams can produce a more effective repair schedule in a matter of days.
Video content from this project can be viewed here.
Commercial-grade Intel Falcon 8+ drones survey the Wall, capturing more than 10,000 hi-res aerial images that are stitched together into a 3D model.
This mission is an extension of Intel’s Tech for Good program.
More on Intel’s Tech for Good:
The Great Wall Restoration campaign is a part of the broader brand campaign and continues the theme “Tech for Good” that was introduced with earlier programs such as Polar Bear and Snot Bot. The program includes the following initiatives:
Polar Bear Exploration: Intel and wildlife photographer Ole Jørgen Liodden explore the behavior patterns of polar bears in the arctic through drone technology, providing wildlife and environmental researchers with accurate and more reliable data, captured in a safer and more efficient way.
Whales Exploration: Intel partners with Parley for the Oceans and Oceans Alliance on SnotBot to provide emerging artificial intelligence and drone technologies for researching whale blow as a leading indicator of our oceans and, ultimately, our global health.
Preserve 15th Century German Cathedral: In collaboration with experts from Bauhaus University Weimar and Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, a foundation for the preservation of cultural monuments, Intel is powering inspections and damage assessment of the cathedral with advanced commercial drone technology.
Drone Techniques Help Manage Oil and Gas Facilities More Efficiently: Airscope, a Perth, Australia-based inspections and asset visualization company, has used the Intel Falcon 8+ drone to extend these benefits further by developing computer-generated 3-D models of entire hydrocarbon processing facilities off the North West shelf of Australia and in the Cooper Basin, effectively bringing the field into the boardroom for more effective asset management.
