Permissions granted by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have opened the doors wide open for the drone technology. Work in different industries has been tremendously reduced because of the efficiency of drones. From fastening product deliveries to reaching out to people’s needs and providing productive and effective solutions that are not just cost effective but less time consuming drones have leveled up to sore heights. Drones are not only game changers but have immensely helped in reducing dangerous threats at worksites and industries regions.
Firstly, lets understand the concept of utilities before with respect to drone technology. An organization or a company supplying the community with electricity, gas, water, or sewerage. Sometimes, other facilities like that of internet, cable TV and phone services are tending to be considered additional utilities since they are now considered standard in most American households. When it comes to drones these are the regions where the inspections are taking place.
Drone technology has basically escalated the graph and helped in boosting all industries including the utilities. apart from all the industries where drawn inspections are taking place and or are going to take place like we have mentioned in our earlier blog the utilities sector is definitely the one gaining more attention. This is mainly because of the difficult construction as well as the higher trains at which these things are based makes it really tough for human interaction to do inspections. When it comes to drones, they are extremely viable, helpful and accurate while doing inspections as well as providing data that is trustworthy. There are certain major reasons why the drone industry is majorly taking of in the energy sector specifically as compare to the others, let’s dive into the details of understanding why is that so.
Extremely Time Saving
Any routine, power-lines or transmission region or cables tend to cost around hundreds and thousands of dollars to any company which provides a human inspection, where lot many people are involved in inspecting each and every cell tower or each and every cable on the street. Apart from the number of people involved in this process, the total down time that takes place is also huge. If this thing needs to be done in a very easier way, drones can be used to provide advanced infections. Unlike any manual inspection, drones tend to cover some large areas in a shorter span of time. Technologies like that of LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) can also be used which can basically sense the region around and also provide a detailed information or a report of the health of different lines, the vegetation surrounding and historic data.
Mitigating Safety
in case of natural hazards like that of hurricanes and earthquakes, when the entire region gets destroyed in seconds, it gets very difficult to keep a check on the continuation of power lines or cables. Instead of sending a huge crew of people to check the situations of the cables or power lines, drones can be sent. Lightweight power lines can be transported from one place to the other with the help of drones not only saving time but also increasing the efficiency of work. This entire process becomes legit in the utility drone inspection creating wonders for various people and reducing efforts of many.
Drones Mitigate Safety risks on Dangerous Jobs
When it comes to manual inspections, it is generally a person climbing up a tower and checking each and every bit and piece of it. But when it comes to drones, we generally have large sets of data which includes images and videos that are taken of these cables which provide proof and leave no room for any error. These images are generally the birds eye view of the serving a region which basically act as a historical data and can be compared time to time. The process of using drones in these industries basically creates an approach of being prepared ahead of time. Just like it is said prevention is better than cure; Energy companies use, this data acquired by drones to make predictive maintenance programs are the ones which set up a routine of checking these cables regularly. This approach is not only extremely worthy and educated, but it also reduces the number of extensive failure or damages that can be involved in the process if it is done manually.
Drone for Utilities: A Bright Future
Understanding that drone for utilities are going to be a bright future ahead. If worked efficiently, drone technology means to make its use effective in areas such as that of utilities. From improving safety to reducing operational cost, we are not only the scratching the surface of possibilities of the usage of drone for utilities but also making the entire process extremely efficient and worthy. It is not just the procedure of flying a drone and acquiring images and videos, but it is this software that gets involved in the later process which helps in creating wonders for the organization which looks after it. Utility drone inspection is needed in various regions to lessen the amounts of work done to as small as few minutes of drone flying.
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Also Read:- Drones in farming
AUTHOR
– Smruti Sachin Puntambekar
(Data Processing)