Efficient, frequent, automated visual inspections hold the key to reducing carbon footprints and ramping up green energy production. If it isn’t already part of your organization’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) toolbox – well, it should be. 

Visual inspections are critical to ensure your site’s assets are in good condition, monitor for unwanted emissions and environmental infractions, and to monitor green energy facility construction to meet deadlines. And automation is poised to help overcome the visual inspection challenges faced by today’s heavy industry. Challenges such as how to safely inspect for fugitive emissions, or how to manage large quantities of visual data are being tackled easily by automating and digitizing previously manual processes.  

Energy and heavy industry stakeholders are combining robotics and advanced software and fully automating visual inspections, meeting their ESG goals in three main ways: 

1. Frequently and safely detect fugitive emissions with autonomous OGI inspections
2. Gain real-time visibility to their site health and find failures before they escalate into safety and environmental disasters (think forest fires caused by electric grid failure) 
3. Scale up green energy facility construction with the most advanced software for construction tracking. 

 

Reducing environmental damage using autonomous OGI drone inspections 

Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) sensors are able to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and have been transforming the way Oil & Gas players are detecting leaks and fugitive emissions. But using an OGI camera manually, on the ground or mounted on piloted drones, is inefficient and often unsafe – exposing employees to hazardous emissions. Moreover, relying on the availability of certified OGI experts reduces inspection frequency, leaving potential leaks undetected. 

One eco-focused solution from Percepto uses autonomous drone inspection to check for gas emissions and leaks near equipment. Using advanced optical gas imaging (OGI) payloads, self-piloted drones can accurately inspect equipment at oil and gas sites, to detect pollution or leaks in a way that is far safer and more accurate than manual inspections. 

The Percepto Air Max OGI drone-in-a-box, resides permanently on site, always ready for gas inspection, and is the only autonomous drone drone-in-a-box (DIB) solution with an integrated onboard OGI camera. A DIB deployed on site can deliver OGI inspections at any facility multiple times a day. It’s not affected by the weather or subject to operator experience or skills, and comes with guaranteed reliability. By conducting daily emission inspections, Oil & Gas players can detect methane emissions early on, reduce the risk of incidents and significantly cut down their carbon footprint. For the first time ever, they can become aware of leaks as they happen and can respond quickly and safely, without risking personnel or the environment. 

 

Going proactive: enhancing preventive maintenance to prevent environmental and safety disasters

Effective and frequent preventive maintenance is critical for organizations to maintain asset health and reliability. For heavy infrastructure, the stakes of performing efficient preventive maintenance are high. Think for example of an aging power grid that can catch fire, or a remotely located chemical plant with highly-concentrated waste that could spill. The list goes on and on, with risk of oil leaks, spills, fires and floods – but it isn’t all doom and gloom. 

Globally, organizations face preventive maintenance challenges ranging from limited workforce availability, high inspection costs, to manual inspection safety concerns. And as a result, inspections are often performed infrequently, or even reactively.

Companies today are leveraging automated inspection to tackle these challenges, and as a result are boosting inspection frequency across their infrastructure. Percepto AIM revolutionizes the way organizations perform preventive maintenance inspections, with fully automated inspections conducted at the push of a button from anywhere in the world. Remote, AI-powered inspections, powered by on-site autonomous drone-in-a-box, catch failures as they happen, with AIM’s cutting edge anomaly detection algorithm automatically detecting infrastructure failures down to 0.3cm in size. With on-site drone-in-a-box performing inspections on a daily basis, effective preventive maintenance strategies can be implemented, fixing small faults before they might turn into large-scale disasters. 

As an added bonus, with fully unmanned inspections, employees are no longer exposed to risky inspections. During day-to-day operations, manual inspections may entail climbing icy towers, going up on scaffolding, or being exposed to harmful chemicals or emissions. And during an emergency, the ability to gain situational awareness before sending in repair crews is critical for employee safety.

 

Streamlining solar farm construction to scale up green energy production 

Automating inspection is the ideal way to reduce carbon footprint, but is often overlooked as a solution to help scale up green energy production. Going green requires inspection to get plants up and running AND to prevent problems once they are operational. The average 50MW solar farm construction project is delayed by 20%, costing energy companies an average of $2M per project. With companies managing multiple large construction projects and contractors at once, those numbers and pains only grow. Regular visual inspection with close up monitoring and reports can help overcome the challenges facing solar sites, including making sure the site is being built as designed, managing multiple contractors, managing multiple construction projects, and more. 

Before turning to Percepto, one major energy company reported that their contractors provided daily construction progress updates on a post-it note! With no choice but to rely only on the contractors’ manual updates, the company had very little oversight on structural site planning, deliveries, and daily installations. In one contractor “mix up” during the civil construction phase, the stormwater controls weren’t built according to plan, which resulted in water damage to nearby communities and setting the project back significantly. 

AIM software helps optimize and streamline solar construction for groundwork, construction, commissioning, and operation and maintenance – comparing as-built to planned and tracking daily progress. 

Percepto’s AIM software package for solar construction monitoring delivers daily, AI-powered progress reports, and includes C-level tools allowing companies to effectively manage multiple projects at once – from any off-site location. The features include object counting, reports for as-built versus planned, construction progress tracking, daily reports, terrain mapping, and data analytics. 

Once the site is  built, the autonomous drones can optimize the maintenance of solar and wind farms. Fitted with a thermal imaging camera as payload, these drones regularly fly over the farm sites to identify any problems with solar panels or turbines by conducting visual analytics based on infrared radiation patterns. Everything is done remotely with the push of a button, eliminating the time and effort required to have engineers manually inspect the area.

 

Are you adding autonomous inspections to your ESG toolbox in 2023?

Automating site inspections and monitoring allows energy companies to easily incorporate  preventative maintenance that can minimize disaster, cut down on carbon emissions AND scale up green energy facility construction. 

Book a demo to find out exactly how Percepto can help your business meet ESG goals and power up responsible environmental activities.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) – commonly called the climate bill – passed in August 2022 is the largest investment in climate action ever made in the United States. The bill aims to fight climate change on two fronts:

• Reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses
• Increasing green energy production

In such, the bill includes massive budgets both for reduction of methane leaks and for renewable energy such as solar power. Beginning in 2024, and growing progressively higher in the subsequent three years, the bill mandates “waste emissions charges”, which are essentially fees for excessive fugitive methane gas emissions. These fines could potentially cost Oil & Gas companies millions of dollars, posing a significant challenge to producers and pipeline operators throughout the United States. Companies must remain compliant to avoid fines, but they must do so without incurring a staggering increase in operational expenses.

Automated drone inspections will help energy companies both scale up green energy output, and reduce methane emissions. 

Methane detection legacy methods fall short

Current legacy methods for leak detection include:

• Manual optical gas imaging (OGI) inspections
• Piloted drones with OGI payloads

Older legacy methods, like soap and bubbles, don’t measure up – especially with increasing regulatory standards.

Manual OGI inspections 

Leak detection is notoriously slow, inefficient, and costly. Since many refineries have upwards of 70,000 parts that need to be inspected, there is no efficient way for any person or team to cover them all on a regular basis. Furthermore, not all parts are safely accessible. These limitations impede the frequency, quality, safety and consistency of methane leak inspections. 

Even when a leak is detected, companies don’t always have the capacity to accurately identify and repair leaky infrastructure in real time as required by the new US climate legislation. When an on-site sensor detects a leak, pinpointing the location of the leak and what’s causing it is like finding a needle in a haystack. And if the exact location of the leak is unknown, they may be forced to empty an entire tank, or shut down a large section of pipe, which leads to hugely expensive, lengthy downtime. Furthermore, employees can be exposed to the leaking gas in the detection and remediation process.

Piloted drone inspections 

Due to the inherent limitations, some companies have advanced to inspection using drones with OGI payloads. A drone can inspect a typical refinery in a few flights and see any emissions from the air. However, although they are faster than ground inspections, provide an aerial view, and enable access to hard-to-reach areas, piloted drone inspections don’t address all the issues detailed above. In most cases, they are operated by third-party providers who survey a given site quarterly, semiannually, or even annually. That simply isn’t frequent enough to offer real-time leak data or catch problems before they shut down operations, both of which are necessary to avoid the new fines.

Enter autonomous OGI inspections

Autonomous OGI inspections offer Oil & Gas companies a better way to meet the new regulations and avoid high emissions fines. An autonomous OGI inspection solution provides unmanned, highly frequent gas emission inspections, relying on a drone-in-a-box (not a piloted drone) to scan for fugitive emissions. Unlike manual or piloted drones, a drone-in-a-box lives on site, and can scan an entire facility site daily and detect leaks in real time.

Autonomous drones collect high-resolution footage to identify the precise location of a leak, without the need to empty a tank or seal off large sections of pipe, saving significant downtime. When integrated with advanced software and AI, they can even generate automated real-time reports and alerts about temperature anomalies and visibly identifiable faults.

Meeting increasing green energy demands by scaling up solar farm construction

Emissions control is only one part of the new legislation—in order to achieve the end goal of net zero emissions, clean energy production must also be increased. Therefore, the climate bill also includes significant incentives to ramp up the construction of solar farms. To contribute to these green energy goals, major solar companies are looking for ways to scale up and manage numerous, large-scale construction projects simultaneously. They need to ensure that solar farm construction meets timelines and regulations, however, project growth is out-scaling the worker pool. This presents a challenge for the solar companies, as they don’t have visibility of each site and it is difficult for them to assess the progress of each project in the field. Since delays to solar farm construction projects typically end up costing 20-25% of the total project cost, real-time visibility is essential to keeping construction on track.

When third-party contractors don’t adhere to regulations and standards, it can lead to massive additional expenses. For example, at one energy site, an area wasn’t appropriately cleared before construction, which later caused flooding in a neighboring residential area. The construction company was ultimately deemed responsible. Full visibility is critical to upholding all quality standards and regulations and avoiding costly mistakes.

One software solution to resolve solar construction challenges

Percepto supports visibility with an advanced, automated software solution for monitoring and tracking solar construction. Using AI, it provides daily progress reports including accurate counts of each component installed, comparisons of actual construction to plans (as-built vs. planned), a geospatial map with a timeline, and a dashboard that makes it easy for companies to monitor multiple projects at once.

When construction is completed, drones scan the site and check if all panels are functioning correctly, giving the owners digital proof that everything was built properly, and allowing them to prove warranty if anything goes wrong in the future.

Leverage approved, advanced technology to meet climate goals

Recent regulatory advances, namely the first ever nationwide beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) approval, make autonomous inspection technology more accessible than ever. While previously, the FAA required a certified drone pilot to have line of sight with a drone, Percepto operators now can launch an OGI inspection or construction monitoring flight remotely – without applying for FAA approval.

Autonomous technology is approved and readily available to meet the strict requirements of the new climate bill. Autonomous drone solutions can help solar companies accelerate construction in line with the bill’s incentives to expand solar production in the US. In addition,  it empowers Oil & Gas operators to reduce their costs, improve safety and efficiency, and reduce fines in the process.

There’s a lot of talk about “end-to-end” drone solutions, but less about what that actually looks like. This blog explores what “end-to-end” means in the context of drone inspection, including data collection, analysis and management. What are the parts that make up the whole? (Hint – it’s about a lot more than just drone data collection.) And how does it affect the value you get from your drone solution?

Many solutions available today do a great job handling specific steps in the drone inspection and monitoring workflow, but do not provide a comprehensive solution. For example, some drone solutions focus only on drone data collection, i.e. planning flight routes, launching the drone, flying the mission, and uploading the visual data. Then, the facility or a third-party service provider handles drone data processing and analytics to detect any issues that should be attended to.

A drone solution that doesn’t include data analytics for example, isn’t an end-to-end solution. A data management solution that doesn’t automate the drone data upload is also not an end-to-end solution. 

With extra manual steps or multiple solutions in play to automate inspections, enterprises are not getting what they really need: accurate and frequent insight delivery from one easy-to-use solution.   This has been made clear by the spate of closures, acquisitions, and pivots over the past year or so among companies that took the focused approach. Missing the value of a complete solution, the market is voting with its feet.

Real value is gained with a fully autonomous end-to-end solution, or a “drone-to-report” solution.  Consider the evidence: when ALL steps are part of a single, unified and unmanned solution, inspections are more frequent, efficient and higher quality – and more faults are caught before they become larger failures.

Why an end-to-end solution is critical for inspections
Critically, a fully autonomous, end-to-end solution improves safety by reducing overall risk to the facility by keeping assets in top shape.

1. It allows for a much higher frequency of inspection, thus detecting issues before they become problems
2. It increases employee safety, by removing employees from at risk inspections and emergency downtime events
3. It collects data routinely, delivering more quality data and higher quality, actionable insights

From drone data collection to insight delivery: what’s involved?
The drone inspection workflow comprises multiple parts. Each of which may involve several manual (not end-to-end) touchpoints, depending on the type of drone solution.

Drone data collection and upload
Many solutions require a trained pilot to physically move the drone to the take-off location,  collect the drone after landing, remove the battery and charge it for the next flight. Due to the need for significant manual intervention and logistics involved, visual inspections are typically conducted less frequently than they should be.

And even when they are conducted, the pilot needs to manually upload the data at the end of each flight – adding an extra manual step. A bigger issue is that data may be uploaded and stored in different ways by different people. The data may also be siloed in different platforms, which may not  be accessible to all the relevant stakeholders, and some people may lack training on how to use the different software s 

A drone-in-a-box eliminates those manual steps and labor costs.
When a drone-in-a-box (an end-to-end drone data collection solution) is launched, it performs missions and returns to its “box” – without any human intervention. Moreover, the drones automatically upload data to the cloud at the end of each flight. 

Drone data sifting and management
The next aspect of an end-to-end solution to consider is what happens to the data once it has been uploaded. Is it tagged, sorted and analyzed against past data? How this process is managed can make a huge difference. Is the data saved on the cloud and shared with the team, or is it saved on an individual’s desktop, perhaps siloed in different departments? Who has access to the data? Who analyzes it, and how long does it take?

If visual data management is done manually, the task can be onerous. Imagine sifting through many tens or hundreds of images and video files to understand which images need to be looked at closely, then looking for the relevant images from previous inspections for comparison. What happens when different people handle these tasks, classifying and organizing images in different ways? Rather than a needle in a haystack, it’s like having dozens of haystacks, each with multiple needles with subtle but critical differences. How do you find the one (or several) that you’re looking for?

Further complicating the situation, most systems store and tag data by date or drone flight number, making it difficult to find images unless it’s known when they were taken. Contrast this with  a site-centric approach: tagging data by asset category, name, and other parameters that enable easy searching and comparison.

Managing drone data is automated in an end-to-end solution. It’s automatically sorted by asset and data type. So when a user wants to find information about a specific tank for example, they can easily see all RGB images, thermal images, videos, reports and issues. 

Drone data processing and analysis
The key to an end-to-end drone solution for inspection is automatic, AI-powered data analysis.  With powerful and advanced AI, no faults go unnoticed, so employees can depend on the solution to perform accurate inspections. 

Comparison to historical data is fundamental for drone data analysis to support a successful reliability program. To identify faults, the most recent images of each asset must be compared to previous images – but not just any image. For a solution to be able to detect a leak, it can’t compare an image taken now to an image taken say 30 minutes ago. Both images will show a leak, and no change will be noticed. So the solution needs to be able to sort through historical (days, weeks, months) data and choose the “right” image to compare to.  

If we think about that happening manually, we return to the ‘needle in the haystack’ big data challenges. Sifting through multiple images of each asset taken from different angles, for numerous assets on site is overwhelming in magnitude. There’s simply too much data for it to be analyzed manually. 

Some companies have automated their drone data analytics, using UAV data processing software or a service provider. Depending on the platform or provider, results may take several hours or days.  Delayed results lead to a longer time-lapse when issues are not attended to, allowing them time to worsen and become more costly to repair.

Another limitation of a third-party platform or service is they may not be able to integrate data from external sources like ground robots, fixed sensors, and other devices. 

With an end-to-end drone solution, all visual data and analytics are handled automatically. The automatic analysis integrates both ongoing and historical data to accurately detect anomalies and identify trends. And results are available in real-time – no delays, no gaps, and no searching for that proverbial needle. 

Reporting and sharing
The way insights are distributed to stakeholders and decision makers is often overlooked. Third-party analytics software may provide the details you need, but who receives the insights? Where does it get saved? How long does it take for the data to get into the right hands for action to be taken? 

With an end-to-end solution, or “drone-to-report” solution, the right information gets into the hands of the right people quickly. Real-time alerts for critical issues are automatically sent to relevant stakeholders. Scheduled, AI-driven reports on anomalies, trends, 3D models, measurements and more, are automatically generated according to your defined schedule and delivered to whomever is subscribed to each report.

The end-to-end value of an end-to-end solution
With a single end-to-end drone solution, inspections occur more frequently, are more effective and of a higher quality.,Stakeholders can focus on their sites rather than concern themselves about visual data management. 

In a nutshell: when looking for a drone solution that will bring the maximum value to your enterprise, it’s vital to look at the big picture. Avoid solutions that automate or simplify only part of the inspection process and choose a complete solution that automates everything from data collection to data processing and analysis.

When it comes to automated inspection, the value of an end-to-end solution really does equal more than the sum of its parts.

Although mining may be the true oldest profession as it has been done for thousands of years, it remains dangerous. The International Council on Mining and Metals notes 7000 mining-related injuries in 2020 alone.  

Based on the potential danger involved with mining, it’s no surprise that there are strict rules related to monitoring and inspecting mines. Even inspecting requires special permits. Besides the health and safety element of mine inspections, great precision is required when doing a geological survey and measuring stockpiles. A proper mine inspection allows management to: gain clarity on the amounts of materials on-site, provide accurate stockpile measurements, monitor tailing dams, provide situational awareness of ground stability and ground movement, monitor the temperature of coal, monitor and analyze blasts, assist with emergency response and security, assist with environmental monitoring. Ultimately, they help with preventive maintenance and keep employees safe.

What is a geological survey?

Let’s backtrack a moment and define a geological survey.

First off, note that a geological survey is essential for extracting minerals and hydrocarbons. It can be defined as “A systematic investigation of an area determining the distribution, structure, composition, history, and interrelations of rock units. Its purpose may be either purely scientific or economic with special attention to the distribution, reserves, and potential recovery of mineral resources.”

Once a mine is in operation, its use for a survey would be minimal. However, a survey could help detect if there’s more material to mine. 

Drones for mining inspections 

Drones are used in mining to inspect sites for safety and efficiency. Specifically, drones can be used to monitor open pits, stockpiles, tailings dams, pipelines – as well as aiding in security and emergency response tasks. They can also be used to monitor equipment such as crushers and conveyors, and to survey work sites during construction. Drones can help reduce costs by reducing the need for expensive and time consuming manual inspections, and can increase productivity by allowing workers to perform tasks from a safe distance.

Stockpile measurement monitoring

AI-powered drones can also help keep track of the inventory of stockpiles. This allows managers to know exactly what is available and where it is located. It also helps to prevent theft and ensure that the correct amount of material is being stored

This saves money by reducing the number of inspectors needed. With fewer people inspecting stockpiles, less manpower is required. Also, since drones can perform these tasks without human intervention, it reduces the cost of training new employees. 

The use of drones and AI to inspect stockpiles has many advantages. For example:

• They improve safety by eliminating the risks associated with climbing on top of stockpiles
• They allow for real-time measurements or at the very least high frequency, consistent inspection 
• They provide accurate results
• They eliminate the possibility of human error
• They increase efficiency by allowing for remote monitoring
• They reduce the chances of theft by preventing access to stockpiles

How pile inspections were done

Previously, pile inspections were performed largely manually – which meant that workers had to climb onto the piles to check them. The danger was obvious. In addition, the process was slow and labor intensive.

How it’s done today

Drones and AI have changed all that. They have made it possible to remote visual inspection and monitor stockpiles from above. No more need to climb on top of the stockpiles. Instead, you simply send your drone out to do its job.

As an added bonus, if something goes wrong, you can immediately alert management. When you’re inspecting with drones, however, they can do all of those things. They can detect issues before anyone even notices them. They can send alerts if something goes wrong. And they can do all of this while remaining safely out of harm’s way.

Benefits of using drones and AI for mine inspections

Mines need to be measured for multiple reasons, including logistics, safety, and more. In the past, inspections such as measuring a stockpile was a time-consuming and laborious task. 

There are multiple benefits to using drones and AI to inspect mines. Let’s review.

Precise information

Every company wants to know how much product/materials it has. Timely and accurate information makes peak performance possible and is crucial to operations.

Using drones and AI for mining inspections means companies will know exactly how much is in the stockpile, how many trucks came in or out, and more. No more guesswork! In addition, the information can be quickly retrieved upon completion of the drone flight. No more waiting for a few days for surveyors to crunch the numbers.  

Remote monitoring

Mines are often located in challenging environments with extreme temperatures and weather conditions. Getting a surveyor out to such a location can be a challenge as they may be reluctant to go. Plus, opportunities to go to the site may be limited, due to weather conditions. 

Because of the challenges of surveying the mine, inspections may occur less frequently than is ideal. These challenges fall by the wayside when using drones for inspections. Therefore, mine inspections can happen regularly, as intended. More frequent inspections naturally lead to safer conditions and a minimizing of risks.

Increased safety with automated inspections and alerts

Risky inspections are a thing of the past. Sending someone up on a stockpile or to monitor tailings dams with hazardous material is potentially dangerous.

A drone can be easily programmed to fly over stockpiles and any other area in and around the mine and quickly deliver precise information. So, no one needs to put themselves at risk.

In addition, drones can measure the precise slope and height of the piles or tailings walls. If the AI detects a potential issue, it automatically alerts management. Management can act accordingly and alter the slope and height so it is safe. 

Stay within regulations

Because materials at mines are often sensitive and because mines can be dangerous, there are strict regulations related to how a mine operates and is maintained.

In addition to regulations related to the slope and height of a stockpile, mines must adhere to wastewater, leak and tailings dam regulations, in addition to general employee safety conventions. Since drones accurately monitor this information, mining companies can take action to make sure they stay within regulations and avoid costly fines. 

Percepto AIM takes mine inspections to the next level

With Percepto’s AIM, inspections can be automated and done remotely. Drones inspections can be monitored and managed by someone offsite. This feature is especially helpful during emergencies when access to the site may be limited. The drone can inspect the site and detect issues such as fires or rock slides, allowing management to address them quickly and lessen damage. 

Upon completion of the flight, the captured data is uploaded to the cloud, where it is organized and analyzed. Detailed reports are quickly generated (as well as a 3D model) and include useful information such as amounts in a stockpile. In addition, the AI can compare data gathered from previous flights and send out alerts about issues/potential issues as needed. It’s also easy to share the information with all the necessary parties. 

One of the oldest professions is much easier and safer when using drones to inspect mines. With Percepto AIM companies can maximize their mine profits and be on top of any potential danger signs.