Commercial
Consumers Energy UAS Monitors Utility Lines
Consumers Energy launched a UAV in Cement City to inspect utility poles and help determine whether the emerging technology can improve customer service.
Inspections
Inspections
Nigeria to Deploy UAS for Surveillance of Oil Installations
Dr Ade Abolurin, Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), says the Corps had concluded plans to deploy about 500 UAS and aircraft for proper surveillance of oil installations in the country. Abolurin disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with senior officers of the Corps as
Inspections
Test Flights to Detect Mock Pipeline Hazards
Unmanned aircraft researchers associated with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech tested new sensor technology designed to detect potentially disruptive activities along energy pipeline routes. The flights last week near Farmville, in rural Virginia, involved a fixed-wing RS-20 unmanned aircraft flying beyond the visual line of sight of ground
Inspections
Florida Power Co Gets sUAS for Storm Damage Surveillance
Florida Power & Light Co. joined the ranks of private companies looking into how drone technology could improve their services this year.
Inspections
Industrial Inspection of a 104-Year-Old Chimney
SkyDrones Tecnologia Avionica in Brazil was able to inspect and estimate the cost of repairing a 104-year-old chimney by reconstructing it using UAV-acquired images and image processing software.
Commercial
T-Mobile Trains Own Pilot to Inspect Cell Towers
Telecom provider T-Mobile will now use Aerialtronics Unmanned Aerial Systems as it becomes the first European provider to use drones to inspect 5,000 antennas in Holland.
Inspections
Unmanned Aircraft Inspect Energy Pipeline Route
The first Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech test flight using a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft to inspect an energy pipeline route—with a piloted chase plane following behind to ensure safety beyond the ground observers' sight line —was completed last week. The flight was a step toward making aerial
Commercial
Russia Develops UAVs for Pipeline Inspection in Siberia
Tomskneft, a joint venture between Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, has started using unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor its pipeline routes and the oil and gas production assets. Testing of drones built under a domestic technology started at the Sovetskoe and Vakhskoe fields located in the Strezhevskiy District. Given the size
VTOL
Flying Wing from VTOL Technologies
VTOL Technologies Ltd was founded in 2002 with the goal of developing and subsequent sales and operational service provision of long-endurance, lightweight, portable, Beyond Visual Line Of Sight [BVLOS] Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems [RPAS] targeted at network-based industries, initially targeting the energy sector, providing a new, automated, much lower cost
Business
Netherlands Companies Collaborate on Inspections
Bureau Veritas and Skeye BV have signed a preferred supplier ship related to inspection work executed with UAV’s.
Testing
Power Line Inspections in Finland
Finnish Energy Industries and Sharper Shape demonstrated drones with advanced sensors in public test flights as part of a research project conducted with the Electricity Research Pool. The robotic copter is equipped with a laser scanner, cameras and aviation safety systems and has the capability for long distance BVLOS (Beyond