Aerial inspections have become indispensable across many industries, including infrastructure, construction, agriculture, and emergency services. The evolution of drones has revolutionised how assessments are carried out traditionally. Now, there is no need to put anyone’s life at risk while inspecting a high-rise building or widely spread disaster-affected places.
With the rise and advent of drones, using one that fits according to your needs has become a crucial task. It is necessary to choose equipment that suits your needs, whether it is the inspection of a high-rise building or flood-affected areas.
Importance Of Equipment In Aerial Inspections
It is important to select the right type of equipment for carrying out aerial inspections. It ensures that the collected data is precise, accurate, and according to the intent of aerial inspection. Remote sensing techniques in aerial surveys help collect accurate real-time data that could then be analysed and programmed accordingly.
Types Of Aerial Inspection Equipment
The requirement of a specific type of drone equipment changes with the needs. You may have to choose from the following:
- Drones Or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), available in different ranges and options, are now an inevitable part of industries like construction, agriculture, and energy.
- Helicopters or manned vehicles are suitable for inspections carried out on larger scales, such as power lines across rural areas and widely spread agricultural fields.
Know The Motive Of Inspection
Before jumping into the equipment selection process, you must fully know your needs. What do you intend to inspect? What is the purpose of your inspection? These questions must be answered by doing appropriate research. Different types of tasks vary in levels of precision and flight. Therefore, you must be aware of your needs.
- Length of the area you are planning to perform aerial inspections on. Knowing the answer is crucial because larger area inspections need more flight time and wide-angle cameras. Drones with multi-rotors are excellent for stability in tight areas, while drones with fixed wings cover widespread regions.
- In-depth structural inspections require drones with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging capabilities. They are vital for closely inspecting bridges, buildings, and cell phone towers.
Assess The Range
One of the key factors that must be kept in mind is the flight time and range of a drone. If a drone has a short flight time, it would require frequent battery changes, which means several pauses during an inspection.
- Fixed-winged drones are suitable for larger area inspections. However, they have less manoeuvrability and cannot hover in one place.
- Multi-rotor drones are best for detailed inspections of shorter areas and buildings while giving short flight time.
Camera And Sensor
The selection of the right camera and sensors are inevitable features of a drone when selecting for an aerial inspection, because the purpose of these inspections is to collect precise, high-quality data.
- High-resolution cameras are a must for collecting footage. For structural inspections, images in 4K resolution or higher are required to perform the task effectively.
- LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensors are irreplaceable for data collection for detailed 3D mapping of the terrain or buildings. They are extremely important for land surveying, forestry, and environmental monitoring surveys.
Weather Resistance
The environment and weather are crucial in carrying out our drone-based aerial inspections. If your inspection is intended in areas with strong or rainy winds, choosing the right one according to weather conditions becomes an extremely crucial task.
The quality of data is highly affected by the winds; therefore, select a drone that is highly irresistible to the winds. This would ensure that the data quality is not compromised and the equipment is safe.
These drones are more reliable if you plan to inspect near water or rainy conditions. It ensures that the efficacy and precision of the collected data are not compromised due to weather.
Conclusion
Choosing the right kind of equipment is an overwhelming task. However, if you do due research and investigation, you might be able to perform your duties like a master in the field. Choose precisely, keeping in mind the intent, duration, and inspection area; then, you can select the right equipment for your required task.