Inspection

Using Drones for Site Inspections

The new paradigm of Drone-based inspections is helping industries improve efficiency and quality of data acquisition while increasing safety and speed of delivery. While drone use is a new and emerging technology, most companies are not aware of the possible benefits they can achieve using small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAVs) to inspect their assets. While companies using drones can quickly and safely produce detailed and accurate inspection data, the ones relying on traditional methods will find it hard to do so over the same period. There are several benefits to using drones to perform activities such as asset inspections, which are traditionally risky, costly and time-consuming. In addition, it replaces the traditional methods that are likely to produce inaccurate data due to human error and other factors.

Construction

By using drone construction inspection, you can assure that your project will go according to plan. This can save you thousands of dollars in rebuilds and plan changes. Determining the overall structural integrity of a new build will be much easier with the use of a drone.

Using drones for your inspection can be much safer as well. In the past, inspectors would have to climb onto roofs that could potentially be dangerous to assess the damage. Inspectors will be much safer on the ground while looking at a screen attached to their drone controller.

Mineral Resources

With the ability to monitor stockpiles, map exploration targets and track equipment, the usage of drones in the mining industry is limitless. One of the biggest benefits of using UAV’s is the cost. Cheaper than traditional helicopters, drones are reshaping the way mining companies assess new areas, providing better results for a fraction of the cost. It can cost over $2,000 an hour to rent a helicopter, while a UAV can do the same job for a tenth of that price.

Tower Inspections

In many parts of the United States, telecommunications towers are sited where weather conditions range from hurricane winds to hail storms to tornadoes. Maintenance workers and contractors risk their personal safety and even their lives to document tower conditions, locate defects and repair damage. Many sustain life-altering injuries while inspecting the towers.

Inspection is only the first step in what can be a lengthy process. It may take weeks for some inspectors to write the field reports, identify and purchase the necessary materials and schedule repair appointments. Meanwhile, the tower’s structural integrity hangs in the balance. With UAS technology and data analysis, this time-consuming process can be shortened to a few days.

Wind & Solar Energy Installations

The solar industry is growing exponentially. There are now over 300 GW of capacity in the world1, including 47 GW in the United States2. Operations and maintenance (O&M) providers are responsible for the upkeep of large photovoltaic systems (solar farms), and they are increasingly turning to drones to reduce maintenance costs and increase power generation.

Drones are also useful in spotting major site issues, such as vegetation management, poor drainage, and soil erosion underneath the racking.

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