How Drones Are Used for Pipeline and High-Value Asset Inspection

Inspection is crucial for predictive maintenance. With optimized inspection schedules, firms can detect signs of problems and act accordingly. And even when there are no signs, problems can be detected at early stages, allowing firms to mitigate them, contain the damage, and – in some cases – save millions that would have been lost.

Maintenance is a critical aspect when it comes to the management of high-value assets. These include pipeline networks, offshore oil rigs, and other assets in the energy industry. These are usually costly to set up in terms of finances, expertise, and time.

Moreover, damage to such assets usually results in huge losses, both in lost revenues and in repair costs.

As such, it is important for firms to have reliable inspection plans in place.

This article will cover the use of drones in the inspection of high-value assets such as gas pipelines, communication infrastructure, and power lines.

A Brief Overview on The Evolution of Drones

At the advent of unmanned aerial vehicles, they were a reserve for the defense industry. At the time, they were expensive and out of reach for applications such as inspection.

Over time, drones have been commercialized. They are now not only available to the general public but also affordable. It makes sense for even a small firm that does periodic inspection to have a drone of their own.

Additionally, the government has progressively been regulating the use of drones. There are now regulations to ensure that they are used safely. For example, a drone must remain within the line of sight of its pilot and cannot be operated in restricted zones such as in the vicinity of an airport. Also, a drone used for inspection has to be operated by a licensed pilot.

While the use of drones has become easier and affordable, drone manufacturers have adapted their drones to specific applications.

There are now drones that are equipped with high resolution inspection systems and are thus perfectly suited for the job as discussed below.

Drones as a Tool for High Resolution Geospatial Photography

Most commercial drones come with a basic camera. They are able to capture footage of a decent quality.

However, for the inspection of high-value assets, where even the slightest issues have to be noted, only high resolution aerial imagery will do.

Inspection drones come with the ability to handle payloads that house advanced aerial imaging solutions. These include a high-resolution RGB camera. When necessary, inspection drones can also carry payloads with sensors sensitive to infrared, ultraviolet rays… and so on, according to the unique requirements of each inspection environment.

For example, to detect corona discharge on power lines, the inspection drone has to be equipped with high resolution aerial imagery devices that are sensitive to UV.

Advanced Imaging Systems

High resolution geospatial photography has also been enabled by the technological advancement of sensors.

One of the advantages of using drones over manned aerial vehicles is that they can get much closer to the item under inspection. Still, to enable the capture of high-quality and complete information about the asset, high resolution inspection systems are needed.

To achieve the required quality, inspectors fit the drones with high-resolution cameras. A camera with the resolution of 50 MP is common for inspection drones.

Such a camera can capture high-quality images such that the inspectors don’t have to struggle even when zooming in to get a closer look.

Moreover, high-quality footage can be analyzed using AI-software that has been trained to spot defects.

Advantages of the Use of Drones for Inspection

Using drones for inspection comes with many advantages. As a result, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles is becoming the preferred method of inspection across industries.

One of the major advantages is cost. When inspecting assets that cover a small area, for example a few miles, a rechargeable drone can be used, significantly bringing down the cost of fuel. In addition, an organization can train one of their employees to be the in-house drone pilot.

Another major advantage is maneuverability. While performing inspections, some areas can be difficult to reach, for example through climbing. Usually, drones can reach those areas. Moreover, they can hover, allowing for the efficient collection of footage.

With recent advances in fields like artificial intelligence, a huge advantage of the use of drones is that it makes automated inspection possible. To start with, rather than have teams of people carrying out inspection in the field, all you need is a drone and its operator. Then when you have the footage, rather than have people comb through it, you can use the software to alert you of suspected problematic areas.

Conclusion

Drone technology has advanced to the point where there is nothing better suited for most inspection use cases than drones.

The use of drones in inspection is not only reliable but also cost-effective and relatively easy.

High-value assets require constant predictive maintenance. With drones, this can be done efficiently. Drones are not only cheaper to fuel but also enable the capture of high-resolution footage, along with automatic inspection.