Electrical Transmission Tower Lifecycle Management
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Electrical Transmission Tower
Lifecycle Management
For utilities that need to manage infrastructure over miles of terrain, PrecisionHawk provides
a flexible, cost-effective way to inspect transmission assets. By incorporating data collection,
processing, and reporting into a streamlined, end-to-end drone-based solution, we’ve made
it easier to start using not just aerial inspections, but aerial intelligence.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• By using PrecisionHawk’s drone-based solution, you’ll reduce inspection costs by at least 28%, as well as
gain unprecedented insight into the condition of your assets.
• Drone-based CVIs uncover 42% more areas of concern (AOC) than ground-based and helicopter-based
inspections can uncover.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01...Executive Summary
04...About PrecisionHawk
05...Transmission Towers Under Stress
06...The Challenges of Traditional Comprehensive Traditional Inspection Practices
07...Strengthening Asset Management with Drone-based Aerial Intelligence
08...Using Drones Across the Asset Lifecycle
10...Our Transmission
Tower Solution
13...Discover
14...Collect
14...Selecting the Appropriate Hardware
15...Operating Flight Software: PrecisionFlight
16...A typical mission
17...Conducting Safe and Effective Flight Operations
20...Training
21...Operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight
22...Complying with Regulations
23...Outsourcing vs. Insourcing (or Both)
24...PrecisionHawk’s Drone Pilot Network
24...Optimizing Drone Fleet Utilization
26...Process
26...How We Built PrecisionAnalytics Transmission
27...Analyze
30...Report, Integrate, and Action
30...Export to Excel and Word
30...Integrate with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
31...Integrate with Asset Management or Business Intelligence Systems
32...Put Drone-based Aerial
Intelligence to Work
34...Why PrecisionHawk?
Executive Summary 04...About PrecisionHawk 05...Transmission Towers Under Stress 06...The Challenges of Traditional Comprehensive Traditional Inspection Practices 07...Strengthening Asset Management with Drone-based Aerial Intelligence 08...Using Drones Across the Asset Lifecycle
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hundreds of thousands of
transmission towers span
the U.S., with greater than
3,200 electric utilities adding
more each year to the ever-
expanding American grid.1
For these utilities, improving asset management is paramount:
accurate asset awareness reduces downtime, increases
worker safety, and boosts competitiveness and profitability.
For a utility, asset management requires taking inventory of,
inspecting, and maintaining thousands of transmission towers.
The foremost method for doing this is deploying helicopters
to perform comprehensive visual inspections (CVIs) and to
inventory assets.
The problem: Using helicopters for inspections is expensive
and dangerous.
When you’re inspecting a thousand miles of transmission,
helicopter missions can become prohibitively expensive—
making it more difficult to keep tabs on all of your assets
frequently enough to catch damage before it leads to failure. And
beyond cost, flying helicopters close to transmission towers and
power lines is risky: fatalities are not uncommon in helicopter-
enabled inspections,2 and wire strike safeguard devices provide
only limited protection.3
1
https://www.utilityproducts.com/articles/print/volume-8/issue-1/product-focus/td/transmission-tower-maintenance.html
2
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2018/11/01/506282.htm
3
https://www.robbrobb.com/Helicopter-Wire-Strikes.html 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Besides the cost and risk, aggregating the data you collect into a single, standardized
database can be messy, if not impossible.
For utilities that need to manage infrastructure over miles of terrain,
PrecisionHawk provides a flexible, cost-effective way to inspect
transmission assets.
By incorporating data collection, More importantly, your analysts can use
processing, and reporting into a high-resolution remote sensing to pinpoint
streamlined, end-to-end drone-based the type and extent of damage more
solution, we’ve made it easier to start accurately than a visual inspection can.
using not just aerial inspections, but Plus, we’ve built our software to integrate
aerial intelligence. You’ll replace slow, with your enterprise data management
dangerous helicopter inspections with systems, so you can leverage aerial
drone deployments; hours of tedious intelligence across the entire transmission
image review with machine intelligence; tower life cycle, from the selection of
and data overload with a focused system future transmission structure sites to the
of reporting. decommissioning of assets.
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
THE BOTTOM LINE
by using PrecisionHawk’s drone-based solution, you’ll reduce inspection
costs by at least 28%,4 as well as gain unprecedented insight into the
condition of your assets.
To preserve the value of your investment and maximize the output of your transmission
towers, start using drone-based asset management today.
About PrecisionHawk
PrecisionHawk strengthens business intelligence with drone-based remote sensing and analytics. We make
enterprise operations more safe, efficient, and effective.
Founded in 2010 $107M raised from 200+ employees
leading strategic investors 15,000+ drone pilots
in energy in-network
Rated “A” by ISNet Serving top 50 Granted the first
American utilities BVLOS waiver
by the FAA
Learn more about us at PrecisionHawk.com/utilities
4
Based on PrecisionHawk’s performance 2017-2018
4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TRANSMISSION TOWERS UNDER STRESS
Electrical transmission towers are expected to operate in terrains that often face harsh
weather. While the galvanized steel of towers in rural or desert locations can last up to 50
years, salty coastal air or heavy industrial environments can cause a transmission tower to
accelerate through the corrosion phases that lead to failure in as little as 15 years.5
Steel transmisson towers Steel transmission towers
in rural or desert environments last: in coastal or industrial environments last:
50 yrs 15 yrs
Depending on how many towers a utility has, neglecting to repair structures before they
reach the second and third stages of corrosion can cost utilities anywhere from $14
million to $153 million6 overall.
In addition, design and manufacturing defects and installation
problems need to be identified early to avoid catastrophic failure,
asset damage, and injury.
5
https://www.utilityproducts.com/articles/print/volume-8/issue-1/product-focus/td/transmission-tower-maintenance.html
5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
THE CHALLENGES OF TRADITIONAL COMPREHENSIVE
VISUAL INSPECTIONS
Electric assets can be difficult to inspect on-site. Utilities typically rely on a helicopter pilot
and a team of technicians, who brave wind, heat, and cold to check for problems as large
as widespread rust and as small as a damaged cotter pin. A technician manually taking
photos from a hovering helicopter captures low-quality images that aren’t always
useful for pinpointing problems.
These helicopter missions are dangerous, Even though pilots on these missions
as well; a mission can be impacted by bad encounter challenges that the typical
weather or cloud cover, and the pilot needs helicopter pilot doesn’t face, the Federal
to maneuver the helicopter close to the Aviation Administration doesn’t require
tower in a way that the technicians can view a special examination for pilots who fly
the tower from different angles—including helicopters for utilities inspections.6
upward, so they can spot issues on the
underside of components—without colliding
with hard-to-see lines or the tower itself.
6
https://www.robbrobb.com/Helicopter-Wire-Strikes.html
6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Beyond the problems with the inspection itself, lackluster data and recordkeeping can
impair maintenance efforts. If inspection data isn’t standardized and stored properly, asset
managers can experience difficulties predicting failures, identifying problematic components
system-wide, and conducting other critical analyses.
STRENGTHENING ASSET MANAGEMENT WITH DRONE-BASED
AERIAL INTELLIGENCE
To overcome the challenges associated with The result:
traditional CVI methods, PrecisionHawk Less downtime due to
provides a drone-based transmission tower unforeseen damage
management solution that includes data
collection, processing, and reporting in a Fewer helicopter missions
streamlined solution. Higher accuracy and higher
margin of safety
The resulting reports can be referenced
directly to resolve issues, or it can be A 28% reduction in inspection costs
incorporated into asset management or Faster fixes to issues and greater
enterprise resource systems to automatically production per tower
prescribe action.
In sum, utilities get more efficiency out of their resources—not to
mention safer conditions for their staff.
HIGHER Drone-based CVIs uncover 42% more areas of concern (AOC)
ACCURACY than ground-based and helicopter-based inspections can uncover.
7
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Other stakeholders benefit from our solution, too: USING DRONES ACROSS THE
ASSET LIFECYCLE
Owners can use data to manage assets over a
Get the same benefits of drone-
lifetime, selecting operators and materials that based asset management across
consistently achieve the best results. the entire asset lifecycle:
1. Site selection—
use LIDAR-equipped drones
to map vegetation, terrain, and
Directors of vegetation can easily water features
monitor right of ways for encroachment. 2. Pre-construction—
gather aerial data to produce digital
elevation and surface models to
assess sites prior to installation
3. Construction progress monitoring—
Directors of construction are able to assess capture aerial imagery to track
progress and precisely manage
sites before bids and builds. the scope, schedule, and cost of
tower installation
4. Pre-operation inspection—
use drones to ensure all
tower components are ready
before activation
Aviation directors reduce the risk of missions
5. Decommissioning—
flown throughout their organizations. Produce maps and models to aid
in the planning of infrastructure
decommissioning and demolition
Customers experience fewer
electrical outages.
Ultimately, anyone inside or outside your organization
can use PrecisionAnalytics Transmission’s intuitive
reporting features to measure the condition of a
transmission tower, including nut and bolt integrity,
corrosion of the galvanized coating, and the condition
of cotter keys and insulators.
COTTER KEY BACKING OUT
8EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Using our easy-to-read reports, your staff can determine if the structure needs to be
serviced immediately, or if the fix can wait.
And because a drone flyover is less expensive than helicopter inspections, assets can be
scanned for issues more frequently so repairs can be scheduled more economically. For
example, Xcel Energy in Colorado estimated that using drones would cost them between
$200 and $300 per mile, compared to helicopter flights that cost an average of $1,200 to
$1,600 per mile.
Drone inspection: Helicopter inspection:
$200-300 $1,200-1,600
per mile per mile
THE BOTTOM LINE
by deploying PrecisionHawk’s drone-based CVI solution, you’ll gain unprecedented
insight into the condition of your assets—more quickly and safely than traditional
approaches. From collecting data to analyzing statistics and distributing
information, we’ll help you improve every step of your asset management process.
9Our Transmission
Tower Solution
13...Discover
14...Collect
14...Selecting the Appropriate Hardware
15...Operating Flight Software: PrecisionFlight
16...A typical mission
17...Conducting Safe and Effective Flight Operations
20...Training
21...Operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight
22...Complying with Regulations
23...Outsourcing vs. Insourcing (or Both)
24...PrecisionHawk’s Drone Pilot Network
24...Optimizing Drone Fleet Utilization
26...Process
26...How We Built PrecisionAnalytics Transmission
27...Analyze
30...Report, Integrate, and Action
30...Export to Excel and Word
30...Integrate with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
31...Integrate with Asset Management or Business Intelligence SystemsOUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Your inspection
process is a
value chain.
Each professional, procedure, and tool that you incorporate into
the process should add value to the final outcome.
Knowing this, we’ve designed our solution to strengthen every
step of the asset management cycle. From identifying sources
of insight to processing, analyzing, and distributing information,
PrecisionHawk’s drone-based solution is purpose-built for
the entire data lifecycle.
DID YOU KNOW?
As of the start of
2019, PrecisionHawk
inspected more than
100,000 miles of
electric infrastructure.
11OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Here’s what the process looks like:
DISCOVER PrecisionHawk’s utilities inspection experts help you
determine your measurement objectives, flight plan, and
technology portfolio.
Credentialed drone operators—PrecisionHawk’s, yours, or a
COLLECT third party’s—use PrecisionFlight to execute flights tailored to
a given structure’s specifications. They’re assisted by project
managers who guide planning and regulatory compliance.
Drone operators upload data into PrecisionAnalytics
PROCESS Transmission to apply machine vision and identify areas of
concern. Data analysts validate the findings.
Stakeholders, such as Operations Directors, Maintainers, or
Asset Managers, use a browser-based interface to view statistics
ANALYZE
and high-resolution imagery annotated by issue type, severity,
and other key parameters.
Field Operators reference analysis outcomes in reports or
REPORT & other software, such as your asset management or enterprise
INTEGRATE resource planning system. (Our developers can assist your IT
team in accessing a set of standard APIs.)
After maintenance action is taken, drone operators re-deploy
ACTION drones to validate work performed and record data for
historical reference.
12OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
DATA VALUE CHAIN
DISCOVER
Adopting emerging technology can be daunting. But PrecisionHawk’s utilities industry
experts, and team of remote sensing-accredited geospatial scientists, will help you develop a
transformational approach to drones. From proof-of-concept to global scale, our consultants
can assist you in defining a comprehensive strategy, not just a point solution.
First, they’ll learn what you aim to measure, such as the damage caused by a lightning strike,
integrity of an old repair, or overall condition of your assets. With those objectives in-mind,
our experts will then assist you in scoping your drone program:
1. Business case development: They’ll help you identify the cost centers and value levers in
a prospective drone program and forecast return on investment.
2. Aerial technology definition: Based on the environment of your right of ways, our flight
operations leaders will specify the appropriate drones, sensors, and software.
3. Process and safety management system design: We’ll develop an approach to drone
operations that integrates with your current operations and safety protocols.
4. Data quality and security diagnostics: Our data analysts will account for quality
requirements, as well as your data secure chain of custody.
5. Change management and governance: PrecisionHawk’s project managers will help you
prepare for changes in your incumbent processes, and help you manage them when the
program is deployed.
With a thoughtfully designed program, you’ll be ready to fly.
13OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
DATA VALUE CHAIN
COLLECT
Getting actionable analytics on your
assets starts with collecting timely and
accurate geospatial data, which is why
it’s critical to take the right approach to
flying drones. And though the objective is
to get as close a view as possible, you
cannot compromise safety, security, or
the integrity of the towers and electrical
lines themselves. DJI M600
• Is lightweight but rugged, allowing for
This balance is the basis of our solution.
agile operations
Developed in partnership with top 50 U.S.
utilities, we offer a data collection platform • Includes guards on its rotor blades to
of hardware, software, and flight services mitigate damage or injury that could
that are tailored to the requirements of occur on contact
your asset management lifecycle. • Has multiple rotors for redundancy
• Is deployed with a high-resolution
Selecting the Appropriate Hardware
camera, enabling the operator to
A safe and effective flight is founded on
balance data fidelity with safe handling
drone hardware, but transmission towers
present a challenging environment for
any aircraft; they may be located in windy
or wet areas, and their power lines are
difficult to maneuver around. Our drone
operators—a.k.a pilots—fly hardware
that’s purpose-built for such a challenging
environment. The hardware:
14OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
The higher the quality of the sensor payload,
the higher the quality of the analysis—so our
operators deploy leading thermal, LiDAR, and
multispectral sensors. For manual inspections,
high zoom is ideal, so PrecisionHawk pilots
might use a camera with high combined optical
and digital zoom. For capturing data that will
be processed by machine intelligence, they use
cameras with large sensors.
Based on the requirements of your inspection,
our flight leaders will recommend the ideal drone
and sensor configuration. DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK
Operating Flight Software: PrecisionFlight
To execute missions, our pilots use PrecisionFlight. The system’s intelligent flight planning
enables operators to deploy manual, semi-autonomous, and fully autonomous missions
that comply with regulations and safety management systems.
15OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
A typical mission
Prior to a mission, the drone operator defines a flight
plan by combining transmission tower specifications
1
with 3D geospatial data, such as the surrounding
terrain and no-fly zones.
To identify potential issues, they emulate
2 the flight in PrecisionFlight, setting
additional boundaries as necessary.
Once on-site, operators load the plan (no connectivity
required), deploy the drone, and monitor it—using flight
3
telemetry—as it automatically captures data along a
precise flight path, predetermined by a set of waypoints.
The drone captures imagery of all the components of the tower from
a number of different vantage points. If issues requiring further
4
inspection surface during autonomous flight, the operator can
manually navigate to the area of concern.
After the mission, the pilot can “replay”
5 the mission to assess mission efficacy
and optimize the flight plan.
16OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
While capturing asset conditions at a single
point in time is useful, you can gain greater
insight by tracking trends over a given
period. Using PrecisionFlight’s repeatable
flight plans, operators are able to capture
multiple data sets, from separate missions,
that precisely correlate.
PrecisionFlight’s advanced features make
PRECISIONFLIGHT
drone-based CVIs accessible. With the right
training, anybody can conduct safe, fast,
and effective missions.
Conducting Safe and Effective Flight Operations
Beyond flight software, the skills of your drone operators are critical to the safety and
effectiveness of your drone-based CVIs. The pilot in command must understand your
objectives and follow rigorous procedures, regardless of whether they’re your own staff or
PrecisionHawk’s experienced flight operators.
To meet these requirements, PrecisionHawk’s leaders—many of whom are former Navy
TOPGUN pilots—developed our industry-leading drone operating procedures:
17OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Mission Requirements—Understand the assets and area of interest to be
inspected, and the specific requirements of the mission.
Mission Readiness—Complete a rigorous training program for the complete
mission lifecycle, from analyzing airspace around transmission towers to
managing unusual asset configurations and weather patterns.
Procedure—Follow flight standards, a comprehensive mission checklist, safety
management systems, and incident protocols.
Regulatory Compliance—Comply with guidelines, designed by our policy
analysts, to limit regulatory exposure.
Quality Assurance—Verify that the data meets quality requirements using
PrecisionHawk’s offline field analysis tool; identify anomalies, omissions, and
other issues prior to delivery.
Data Secure Chain of Custody—Protect mission data by following secure
transportation, transmission, and destruction protocols.
Continuous Improvement—Engage in a continuous improvement plan,
reporting lessons learned and applying them to future operations.
After tens-of-thousands of flight hours, we’ve learned what it takes to maintain a zero-incident
record. This excellence is reflected in our A-rating from ISNet.
18OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
These are principles we require of all PrecisionHawk’s flight stakeholders, whether they be
our 100-plus full-time pilots, the more than 15,000 pilots in our drone pilot network, or our
clients’ own inspection and aviation staff.
We’ve designed our training regimen to help professionals of any
background achieve this standard of excellence.
And everyone, from program directors to visual observers, is responsible for maintaining
discipline in the field.
DID YOU KNOW?
PrecisionHawk is the
largest supplier of flight
operators in the world,
boasting more than 150
full-time drone pilots
and 15,000 drone service
providers, in-network.
19OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Training
If you’d prefer to insource your drone operations, we can help prepare your staff. Whether
they’re seasoned aviation professionals or workers who have never flown an aircraft, our
trainers can give them thorough ground and flight training. As a result, you’ll get safe,
efficient, and effective insourced drone operations.
Our standard curriculum includes:
• Aircraft registration
• Preflight inspection
• Flight planning
• Mission management
• Safety and incident procedure
• Aircraft, sensor, and flight control hardware review
• Advanced sensor deployment
• Data quality assurance
• Data secure chain of custody
• Continuous improvement management
20OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
We can customize the curriculum to account for your OPERATING BEYOND
pre-existing safety management and IT systems. In the VISUAL LINE OF SIGHT
event that operators will be required to process and
Given that transmission lines and
analyze data, we can train them on PrecisionAnalytics lines occupy vast, sometimes
Transmission, too. mountainous terrain—or offshore
locations—some drone operations
only realize their maximum
In addition to training existing staff, we can help you efficiency if operators can fly
Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
onboard employees who are new to transmission
That is, rather than deploying
lines. We’ll train them to assess wind conditions, adjacent to a single transmission
establish a safe deployment area, deploy aircraft tower and capturing only that one
tower, an operator can inspect
from a service vessel, maintain proper standoff from multiple assets, with some being
transmission equipment, and other mission-critical beyond their direct view.
subject matter.
BVLOS flight requires a hard-to-get
waiver from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA)—one that’s
By giving your staff the proper training, rejected at a rate of 99%.
you ensure their safety and efficiency, as
Fortunately, PrecisionHawk was
well as the quality of your drone-based granted the very first waiver that
aerial intelligence. covers BVLOS flight in Class G
airspace. We aren’t restricted to a
particular jurisdiction or a particular
type of drone, which means we can
apply this waiver to conduct more
efficient drone operations on your
behalf. Alternately, we can use the
experience we gained during our
research in partnership with NASA’s
Pathfinder program research and
the FAA to help you attain your own
BVLOS waiver.
Learn more about our BVLOS
research and consulting on
THE NUMBERS our website.
BVLOS flight waivers
submitted to the
Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA)
are rejected at a rate
of 99%.
21OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
COMPLYING WITH REGULATIONS
Regulations around aerospace and unmanned vehicles are not only complex
but constantly evolving. By working with PrecisionHawk, you get peace-of-
mind knowing that your drone operations are in compliance with the latest
requirements set forth by governing bodies. That’s because we work in
partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Pathfinder
Program, and other UAV coalitions to help shape policy—all in an effort to
speed the safe and rapid adoption of drones.
FAA Pathfinder Program
PrecisionHawk is one of three industry partners
FAA Drone Advisory Committee
PrecisionHawk CEO, Michael Chasen
FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committee
PrecisionHawk Sr. VP of Policy, Diana Cooper
FAA Center of Excellence for UAS Research
PrecisionHawk Director of Airspace Research, Dr. Allison Ferguson
FAA Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team
PrecisionHawk CTO, Ernest Earon
Small UAV Coalition (President)
PrecisionHawk Sr. VP of Policy, Diana Cooper
The American Society for Testing and Materials
PrecisionHawk CTO, Ernest Earon,
NASA UTM Program
PrecisionHawk Director of Airspace Research, Dr. Allison Ferguson
Global UTM
PrecisionHawk Sr. VP of Policy, Diana Cooper
Unmanned Systems Canada
PrecisionHawk Sr. VP of Policy, Diana Cooper
Energy Drone Coalition
PrecisionHawk Sr. VP of Policy, Diana Cooper
22OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Outsourcing vs. Insourcing (or Both)
Who should collect data about your assets’ health? That depends on your requirements,
timeline, budget, and appetite for risk. While the discussion of these variables—and how they
might change your staffing plan—are beyond the scope of this brief, here are three common
strategies to consider:
OUTSOURCE HYBRID INSOURCE
In this approach, PrecisionHawk— A hybrid strategy involves establish- When you insource your drone
or another third party—collects ing a staff of drone operators and operations, you do it all. You’ll
data, managing the drone augmenting that staff with third-party likely need to engage a third party
deployment end-to-end. providers when needed. Typically, to assist you in developing and
on-staff operators are allocated to maintaining a program strategy
DESCRIPTION
high-value or complex inspection and training staff.
tasks, while outsourced flight
operators are relegated to routine or
one-off missions, such as emergency
response or pre-operation/
commissioning inspections.
The benefits of this approach are Using this strategy, you get The main benefit of this approach
that you will: many of the benefits of is that you can cross-train existing
• Save on costs and resources outsourcing and you can focus staff. The staff that deploy
required for drone operations, your staff on critical missions. ground teams or aerial lifts can
including staffing, training, equip- opt for a drone when applicable.
ment investment and manage- Also, you can capitalize some
ment, and regulatory compliance costs associated with program
• Shield your business from the startup and maintenance (such as
BENEFITS
nominal risk of aircraft incidents equipment costs).
• Procure services as needed
• Benefit from state-of-the-art
innovations in drone technology
• Respond to calls for flights in as
little as 24 hours
• Scale to meet gradual increases
or spikes in demand
A drawback of this approach is However, the drawback of this However, this method requires
that your inspection operations plan is that your program will incur a greater up-front investment of
are segmented from your many of the same startup costs your time, capital, and labor, and
maintenance operations. (For and labor—such as equipment exposes your program to aerospace
DRAWBACKS
example, when maintainers fly, procurement, regulatory filings, regulatory and safety risks. Not
they can conduct immediate spot and program development— to mention, you’ll need to stay
maintenance.) Also, your costs are associated with fully insourcing apprised of changes in technology
entirely operational. drone operations. And though and regulations, and also to apply
manageable, you’ll need to for a BVLOS waiver if you want to
coordinate missions between deploy a drone solution at scale.
internal and external resources.
23OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
PRECISIONHAWK’S DRONE
PILOT NETWORK
With PrecisionHawk, you get
immediate access to drone
operations on a global scale. The
largest of its kind in the world,
PrecisionHawk’s Drone Pilot
Network boasts more than
15,000 licensed operators who are
available to fly any site in the United
States within 24 to 72 hours.
As with missions conducted by
Choosing the right drone operations strategy for your
our own pilots, safety, quality,
transmission assets can be tough. Our consultants can and security are assured. Pilots
help you think through the staffing, budgetary, and contracted through our network
undergo the same rigorous training
schedule implications of drone-based data collection— as our full-time operators. In the end,
and ultimately deploy a program that meets your needs. you benefit from fast and accessible
drone-based aerial intelligence.
Optimizing Drone Fleet Utilization
Should you choose to insource part or all of your drone
operations, you’ll need a system for managing the
DRONE PILOT NETWORK HEATMAP
program. After all, a drone operation is made up of
various component parts, including drones, sensors,
batteries, the technicians who operate it all, and those
technicians’ qualifications and credentials.
Effectively managing your resources is the
key to maximizing return on investment. DID YOU KNOW?
Operators within
PrecisionHawk’s Drone
Pilot Network can fly
any site in the U.S.
within 24 to 72 hours.
24OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
To this end, PrecisionHawk has developed the Drone Management System™ (DMS)—a
secure, web-based application that provides any leader with a fast and easy way to manage
a fleet of UAVs.
Features include:
Project-based planning— Logging and reporting— Aircraft inspection tracking—
Coordinators can use smart Operators will spend as little Resource managers can
scheduling features to as 90 seconds logging flights keep “birds in the air” by
optimize the utilization of and tracking hours in an tracking airframe hours,
staff and equipment efficient interface, so they flights, and other important
can get back to the other metrics associated with
aspects of their jobs equipment maintenance
Pilot qualification records— Lessons learned and incident reporting—Risk and
Trainers can maintain a program managers can aggregate lessons learned—from
record of pilot qualifications “close-calls” and reportable incidents—into a single
and credentials, ensuring repository of knowledge that keeps the entire flight team
the right technicians apprised of best practices
are deployed for the
right inspections
By using DMS, program managers can optimize their resources and keep the aerial
data flowing.
THE NUMBERS
With the Drone
Management System™,
operators spend
around 90 seconds
logging flights.
25OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
DATA VALUE CHAIN
PROCESS
Sure, your analysts can pore over the terabytes of raw imagery and video that result from
drone-based inspections. But by harnessing the power of machine learning, you can shorten
the process, improving the precision and speed of your distribution asset inspections.
HOW WE BUILT PRECISIONANALYTICS TRANSMISSION
PrecisionAnalytics Transmission is machine intelligence built by people.
PrecisionAnalytics Transmission was first Flight operators conducted hundreds of missions,
envisioned by technicians with several years of testing times of day, angles, standoff distances,
experience conducting manual inspections of and other parameters of data quality that impact
transmission structures. They set benchmarks the effectiveness of machine vision.
for what a machine would need to identify to
adequately supplement human inspectors.
Developers built PrecisionAnalytics Transmission Data analysts spent countless hours hand-
on the seminal work of leading academics, annotating images, training the system on how to
technologists, and coders who defined the identify issues in transmission towers.
foundation of machine intelligence technology.
As a result, today’s users of PrecisionAnalytics Transmission benefit from the seamless
delivery of transmission tower health data derived from aerial imagery.
26OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
DATA VALUE CHAIN
ANALYZE
To effectively and efficiently manage the CVI process, operators need a system for
navigating, annotating, and organizing transmission tower condition data—one that
standardizes how their organization views its assets.
That’s where PrecisionAnalytics Transmission comes in.
After machine intelligence identifies imagery that represents priority issues, it aggregates
the data into an intuitive, web-based interface that’s accessible from anywhere.
Infrastructure Statistics—
Get a comprehensive view of all your assets,
including not only transmission lines but also
distribution lines, wind turbines, and solar
panels—either separately or all at once. Segment
your health trends at the portfolio or site level:
view rolled-up statistics on damage severity,
issues, and other measures you identify.
Vegetation Map—
View an encroachment map overlaid on on a
street map, or in a 3D point cloud model, to
ensure the areas around assets are clear.
27OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Transmission Tower at-a-Glance—
Home in on problem areas, such as rust or
a bent transistor. Review the overall health
of transmission assets and navigate image
sets using intuitive markers, color-coded for
damage severity.
Detailed Views—
View full-resolution imagery and zoom in
on key issues.
In-situ Communication—
Create and edit annotations and store
metadata, such as the type of observation,
your finding, the size of the issue, damage
severity, and other parameters. Add
comments to other stakeholders.
Historical Recordkeeping—
Investigate the genesis of an issue. View
historical imagery for the same location on
the tower from prior inspections to identify
potential precursors to the issue at-hand.
28OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Typical issues that analysts identify using drone-based imagery include:
• Cracked insulators • Structural issues
• Corrosion • Missing and backed-out cotter pins
• Vegetation
Our team of data analysts can produce these annotations or we can leave it up to you.
CRACKED INSULATOR VEGETATION CONCERNS
LEANING STRUCTURE MISSING COTTER KEY
In short, PrecisionAnalytics Transmission streamlines your asset management cycle
into a single, intuitive system. Stakeholders across your organization will gain greater
insight into the health of your assets, you can use PrecisionAnalytics Utilities to identify hard-
to-find maintenance issues—before they degrade performance or cause a critical failure—
and trend data will surface problematic components or areas.
Overall, your newfound insight will power improved asset management.
29OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
DATA VALUE CHAIN
REPORT, INTEGRATE , AND ACTION
Once analysts have produced their findings, others need to take action. But how do you give
cross-functional and external stakeholders the insights they need—without exposing them
to overwhelming detail?
By using PrecisionAnalytics Transmissions’ flexible reporting and integration features to
distribute information across your organization.
Export to Excel and Word
In one click, download a spreadsheet that This feature is particularly useful for informing
catalogs transmission tower metadata, stakeholders that have limited scopes of work.
including a link to reference imagery. For For example, you might export reports to:
• Detail an insurance claim after a storm
greater detail, export a document that
• Strengthen an insurance risk assessment
includes supplemental instructions and
• Claim a warranty issue
information, such as diagrams, definitions,
• Inform a field maintainer prior to taking action
and procedures. • Offer detail to regulatory reporting
Integrate with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
Use secure APIs to deliver data to your Activate rules-based workflows to automatically
ERPs, such as SAP or Oracle. trigger work orders for maintenance and repairs,
such as:
• Immediately actioning maintenance workers
and contractors to the site of a critical issue
• Queuing preventative maintenance
• Procuring parts and materials
30OUR TRANSMISSION TOWER SOLUTION
Integrate with Asset Management or Business Intelligence Systems
Automatically port data from For example:
PrecisionAnalytics Transmission into • Validate existing asset management
systems that you use to manage measures by comparing transmission tower
performance to the condition of the towers
your assets.
• Correlate asset health and inventories to
surface trends in component performance,
such as equipment that may be over- or
underperforming
• Measure asset performance and depreciation
By developing a workflow and communication protocol that maximizes the potential of your
aerial intelligence, each of these tools will let you turn data into action.
In doing so, your stakeholders will benefit from the power of drones.
31Put Drone-based Aerial Intelligence to Work 34...Why PrecisionHawk?
PUT DRONE-BASED AERIAL INTELLIGENCE TO WORK
To increase uptime, comply with
storm-hardening regulations,
reduce the risk of catastrophic
failure, increase customer
satisfaction, and make an impact
on their organizations, utilities
directors need deeper insight into
their transmission assets.
Throughout this guide, we’ve demonstrated how PrecisionHawk’s
team can help.
Our industry experts will assist in your evaluation of
when, where, and how to incorporate drone-based aerial
intelligence into your operations. Our global network
of drone operators and trainers are ready to execute safe,
efficient, and effective flights on your behalf. And our engineers
are optimizing PrecisionAnalytics Transmission every day to
better automate and accelerate your analysis and reporting.
And through it all, we’re with you every step of the way.
Learn more about PrecisionHawk:
W W W.PRECISIONHAWK .COM
33PUT DRONE-BASED AERIAL INTELLIGENCE TO WORK
To speak with one of our consultants about the solution USA and Canada
(844) 328-5326
discussed herein, contact us:
Australia
info@precisionhawk.com (61) 2 8317 3369
UK
(44) 2037 693648
Argentina
(54) 1 152 357 170
WHY PRECISIONHAWK?
Experience—We specialize in serving major enterprises,
counting among our clientele top 50 utilities, oil & gas
supermajors, leading wind turbine manufacturers, Fortune
100s, and federal and state agencies.
Scale—More than 15,000 licensed operators are available to fly
any site in the United States within 24 to 72 hours. CEO, MICHAEL CHASEN
Safety and Operational Excellence—Our flight operations
our founded on Naval aviation principles, earning an A-rating
from ISNet.
Regulatory Leadership—We’ve partnered with NASA and the
FAA to help define practices in BVLOS operations and universal
traffic management, among other regulatory areas.
Machine Intelligence—PrecisionAnalytics Transmission runs PRECISIONHAWK DRONE PILOTS
on the newest artificial intelligence platforms, trained using
terabytes of data from thousands of drone missions.
Cutting-edge Geospatial Science—Our industry-leading team
of PhD-holding and remote sensing-accredited geospatial
scientists ensure the quality and accuracy of our systems.
Hardware Expertise—Career pilots, engineers, and data
analysts maintain PrecisionHawk’s portfolio of cutting-edge
drones, sensors, and ground-based equipment.
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