Critical Infrastructure Inspections with Drones

Ageing infrastructure is a global problem and with the density of many urban areas, it isn’t a simple or affordable process to redesign and create new and effective infrastructure. This means inspection and maintenance are absolutely crucial to maintaining our infrastructure, and drone inspection is one way of handling critical infrastructure monitoring and maintenance effectively. The speed of property development and high demand in the UAE can make the idea of ageing infrastructure seem a distant problem, but maintenance issues can arise at any time. Here we’re exploring the benefits of utilising drones for infrastructure inspection.

Why Infrastructure Inspections Matter

Infrastructure inspections ensure you have a full understanding of the condition of essential elements of your development such as roads, bridges and power lines. Regular inspections allow you to spot issues before they become significant problems and you can then schedule the necessary maintenance too.

Critical infrastructure inspections may involve a range of activities including visual inspection, asset management and data collection and storage. Inspections can be conducted manually but increasingly organisations are recognising the benefits of technology including drones and robotic systems. An effective inspection will analyse multiple factors including corrosion, structural integrity, wear and tear and other risk factors. The results of the inspection will inform future maintenance works and whether the condition of the infrastructure means there will need to be more significant maintenance or repair work.

Effective critical infrastructure inspections help to extend the longevity of our urban spaces and also help to prevent accidents or injury due to structural issues. Integrating drone technology can make the infrastructure process quicker, more accurate and more efficient.

How drones are used in infrastructure inspection

Drone land surveying involves drones capturing multiple images over vast spaces for planning and design purposes. In most densely built-up areas, drone inspections are still possible and can be used to monitor maintenance issues which might be near impossible using manual methods.

Drones can quickly and easily access hard-to-reach areas and provide real-time data, often without the need to halt business operations or have any level of shutdown at all. Drones can help to reduce the costs involved in infrastructure maintenance too. A single drone can inspect projects and infrastructure without the need for any additional equipment or multiple people involved and more ground can be covered more quickly.

Equally important is the safety benefits that come from switching to drone technology. Critical infrastructure inspections can require accessing places which are hard to reach or extremely high up, posing significant safety risks to workers. With drones, you remove this risk entirely and the task ensures no workers need to put themselves in needlessly dangerous situations.

Drones capture highly detailed data and images which allow for quick and informed decisions about maintenance and repairs. The quality of the data allows teams to analyse and manipulate it in a wide range of ways to help maintain the infrastructure’s integrity and also plan for maintenance in the future.Working alongside commercial drone companies gives private companies, government bodies and other organisations engaged in infrastructure maintenance a significant cost and efficiency advantage over others. FEDS work with organisations in many sectors maximising the potential of drone technology in improving their operations.