Mr Ng Lang, CEO, Urban Redevelopment Authority
Members of the URA Board and URA R&D Panel
Our supporting partner, the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to present the exhibition ‘Drones: Changing the Way We See the World’. This is the second edition of the Urban Lab series, which showcases emerging technologies and research for a more liveable and sustainable Singapore.
You may wonder why Urban Lab is featuring drones. What do drones have to do with urban planning and design? What relevance do drones have to our environment and our daily lives?
Many of us associate drones with military use. But with the rapid advancement of drone technologies, the roles and uses of drones are changing fast, and are opening up new possibilities. Singapore is starting to explore its many positive uses. A multi-agency Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Committee has been set up to facilitate proof-of-concept trials, and to boost the innovative use of unmanned aircraft by public sector agencies. In recent months, many of you would have read about or heard of companies and government agencies that are experimenting with drones, in a wide spectrum of uses ranging from service delivery to fire-fighting.
Now it is important for us to think how drones can help us, and how we can exploit them to improve the way we plan, design and do things. And this exhibition is an effort to delve into the potential uses of drones, and to encourage us to imagine the possibilities. By showcasing some of the exciting work of the different sectors from academia, government to industry, we hope to inspire experimentation and innovation, in order to discover new ways to improve our environment, the way we work, and the quality of our lives.
The drone itself uses a fairly simple and straightforward technology. It is essentially an unmanned vehicle that can travel in the air, on land, or even underwater under remote control or autonomous programming. But when you combine drones with other technologies, then many new applications become possible. It is almost as if the only limit is the limit of our imagination.
The exhibition presents three major areas in the use of drones – (a) aerial imagery, (b) 3D mapping and modelling and (c) environmental and infrastructure monitoring.
Aerial imagery is not new. If we want to capture an aerial shot of any large area today, some of us might think of using manned aircraft or satellites. But today, drones can bridge the gap between 2D and satellite imagery with more close-to-ground views. They can capture an infinite number of angles, scales and elevations in the form of videos or images.
In the exhibition, you will see Singapore in a different light, with stunning views of our city from above: of Marina Bay, Jurong Lake District, Sungei Buloh, Gardens by the Bay and the Rail Corridor. You will also discover that we have some very interesting and fun playgrounds, through photographs taken by renowned photographer Stefen Chow.
And these are not just pretty pictures. These images can also reveal hidden corners, underutilised spaces, urban patterns and changes to landscapes over time. They can become a potential new toolkit for planners to visualise, experience, understand and plan for our cityscape in a much more dynamic way.
Beyond aerial imagery, drones can also help to build a detailed and comprehensive picture of our urban landscape. Aerial images taken by drones can now be turned into 3D digital representations of buildings and neighbourhoods quickly and accurately. In the past, we relied on planes equipped with LiDAR scanners to fly back and forth over large surface areas. Now, drones can bring us up close to individual buildings and capture details in high resolution. With accurate detailing of our buildings and environment into 3D form, new ways for study and analysis are opened up that will inform future ideas and solutions.
This exhibition showcases for the first time, a 3D model of the NUS Baba House at Neil Road. The model was created from images taken entirely by drones. This is not only a great way to digitally document our heritage buildings but there are practical uses – it enables us to see less accessible aspects of the buildings easily, like the rooftops, right down to the intricate motifs on building façades. And this will help planners and architects better plan and manage restoration work over time.
Drones can also be used to capture images to create 3D models of larger sites and buildings that can then be used for simulations and analyses. For example, the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) of the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) has developed a high quality resolution 3D model of the NUS campus. Through the use of drone photogrammetry, FCL was able to collect accurate contour data and plot out the undulating terrain of the campus. The researchers can now use the 3D model to simulate and analyse wind corridors, plus transportation and pedestrian networks within the campus.
In the area of environmental monitoring and infrastructure inspections, drones have proven to be very useful because they can reach inaccessible places. Think about all the remote and inhospitable areas – the depths of the ocean, dangerous installations, rooftops, and gutters. Drones offer a cost effective, safe and easier way for companies to carry out their monitoring and inspection more effectively. And because drones are inexpensive, and because they do not need pilots, they can be deployed for round-the-clock monitoring.
Shell, for instance, uses drones to inspect their flare stacks in Jurong Island. This has enabled Shell to achieve significant time and manpower savings, while reducing the safety risks that their staff would otherwise have to face. Within our neighbourhoods, you can fit drones with thermal sensors to help detect mosquito breeding grounds more easily or to check on the working condition of solar panels on rooftops.
Now these are just some examples of the possibilities that drones offer. But these are only scratching the surface. I hope that the exhibition will inspire us to continue to explore and leverage on the potential of drones. Of course, we should also be mindful that we need to use drones responsibly. The Unmanned Aircraft Bill passed by Parliament last week, and the on-going inter-agency efforts led by the Ministry of Transport, will provide a balanced framework to safely and responsibly manage the use of drones. With the increasing use of drones and the immense possibilities they offer, I envision a drone eco-system in the future in which infrastructure is developed to support their varying applications and the test-bedding of potential applications. With this co-existing with a robust regulatory framework in such an eco-system, we can ensure drones will continue to benefit and bring delight to our lives.
The Urban Lab would not be possible without the help of various partners. I would first like to thank REDAS for their continued support of Urban Lab. Thank you. Through REDAS, we hope that new ideas and technologies exhibited here will be adopted and implemented by the industry.
I would also like to thank all the research institutions and the drone companies for sharing their thoughts, ideas research and other work to make this exhibition possible, and to help us better understand this very exciting technology and its potential. I hope you enjoy the exhibition.
Thank you.