When a US based client recently became part of a much larger organisation – one dedicated to changing the way businesses, from Agriculture to Utilities, manage their resources – we were asked to take on the certification of the whole group, and quickly discovered the rapidly changing world of drone technology and usage.
For instance, to check a power line outage or for maintenance purposes, utility companies have to send line inspectors out, at great risk and expense, to climb and check critical elements of every pylon in a power line – these lines sometimes extending over many hundreds of miles.
Using the latest technology however, operators, equipped with high resolution camera drones, can do a similar job without the time or risk usually associated with the task. An added benefit of image and sensor data being quickly sent, via a secure web interface, into the clients own asset management system.
This technology can also help with the management and maintenance of solar and wind farms, as well as with large construction projects where access is difficult but critical to safety.
And in the field of agriculture, drones are changing the way farmers map and efficiently plan their crop planting and land usage to get the most out of every acre.
So, next time you hear someone droning on about the negatives of drone technology, manoeuvre the conversation around to how they might just be helping the world move in a more positive direction – and in a more cost effective and environmentally friendly way!
16 September 2019