D R O N E S OUTDOOR VISUAL INSPECTIONS VIA 3D PATHS Many installations are difficult to inspect due to their height. Drones can offer a solution. Smart Tooling worked on an industrial drone that flies safely outdoors while recording and communicating reliable inspection results. SMART TOOLING O B J E C T I V E DRONE FOR OUTDOOR INSPECTION ACCURATE GEO-REFERENCING OF IMAGES (LOCALISATION) AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF 3D POINTCLOUDS DATA SHARING CAPACITY FOR CARRYING CAMERAS 30 MIN AUTONOMOUS 3D PATH FLYING REPEAT EXACT INSPECTION POSSIBLE When the Smart Tooling project started in 2016, there was quite a hype around drones. Most of the time, it was just a hobby situation. There were hardly any drones that could be used on an industrial level and that could process data correctly. The potential opportunities with drones were recognised. The needs within the industry had also been obvious for years: scaffolding is expensive, bulky and inflexible. Within Smart Tooling, Avular, Airobot and SPIE set to work to develop an industrial drone. This drone should fly safely, at a fixed distance from the installations. The drone had to use a thermal and visual camera to objectively and consistently visualise the corrosion, record the data and communicate with the inspectors. 3D PAD FLYING Joop aan den Toorn (CTO at Avular) says: "To take photos that can serve as an inspection image, you have to get close to the installation. Of course, this also has to be done safely, without collisions. It is not always possible to fly manually or by sight. The solution was autonomous flying, according to a 15
18 Online Touch Home