Power Pole Asset Inspection

By using skills in both asset inspection and project Research and Development, Eclipse Aero was able to conduct a complete survey in the far north of Australia on the Gove Peninsula, NT. This project was flow as a contract for another UAV business, but utilized all Eclipse equipment and personnel. The key problem faced was not the red dust, crocodiles or snakes but the logistics of getting the best gear for the job into that location! Our normal survey aircraft uses large 44v Lithium Ion battery packs. These just can’t travel by air so needed to be shipped by road. Sounds easy, but getting a complete UAV setup to this particular location involved an extended road freight and sea barge – all at an exorbitant cost and the risk of having our primary aircraft offline for many weeks whilst in transit and storage. The solution was to go small. For the primary visual survey we switched to the DJI Mavic Air2S. With a 5.4k, 1 inch sensor and full collision avoidance sensors we would both reduce the risk profile to the assets and get closer and clearer imaging than ever before. For the secondary thermal survey, we redesigned our R500 cinelifter to carry a small thermal camera, allowing us to fly entire sections of the network with FPV assistance. The result was two compact survey kits that could be transported as hand luggage on commercial flights. The outcome was a set of highly detailed survey data that was able to identify insulator damage that would never have been seen from the ground.