Issue link: https://geospatial.trimble.com/en/resources/i/1415432
36 Spring 2019 Traditionally, qualifi ed personnel are employed to enter or climb up whenever routine or emergency inspections are needed. Despite all the training these personnel receive, these inspection processes are very dangerous. Moreover, human inspection of inaccessible or hazardous spaces usually requires lengthy and expensive planning, including potential shutdown of the normal operation of the unit and preparation of hazard analysis, safety procedures and rescue plans. Even with extensive care, a high number of fatalities and incidents is reported annually. Aerial robotic technology Aerial robotic inspection offers accurate surface inspection to fulfi l mandatory American Petroleum Institute (API) inspection standards. This technology can be used for various asset inspections, onshore and offshore, such as storage tanks, cargo tanks, fl oating production storage and offl oading (FPSO) tanks, semi-submersibles and more. This is implemented by a robotic drone capable of executing non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection. Avestec offers aerial robotic technologies for the inspection of inaccessible and hazardous industrial spaces. This novel concept offers signifi cant benefi ts. Reduced operation time Aerial robotic solutions directly tackle one of the most challenging aspects of industrial inspection, namely operation shutdown. Traditional inspection methods typically require an operation to be closed down for preparation, safety and access before and during inspection. The long shutdown leads to loss of production and revenue. Aerial robotic inspection signifi cantly relaxes preparation and safety requirements while facilitating access to hard-to-reach spaces and accelerating the inspection. This technology could potentially bring down the inspection time from weeks to days or even hours. Improved worker safety Aerial robotic solutions address inspectors' and workers' safety by enabling a complete and industry-standard remote inspection. Traditional inspection methods put inspectors at a variety of risks including potential falls, slips, trips, toxic or explosive environments, excessive heat, lack of oxygen and many more. Aerial robotic technology offers modular sensory technology which enables different types of remotely operated inspections including visual, gas, surface profi le, coating and wall thickness. Lower employment cost Aerial robotic solutions lower employment costs by simplifying the inspection process. Traditional inspection procedures typically involve several people to deal with different aspects of the project including preparation, safety, inspection, analysis and report generation. Aerial robotic inspection is a cost-effi cient, two-person operation, which entails a short setup time and fast inspection due to quicker movement speeds. Web-accessible measurement results, software-based analysis and automated report generation further reduce inspection costs. Inspection quality Aerial robotic solutions offer new data collection features that are not traditionally available. Traditional inspection methods are limited in quality and quantity of measurement data. Particularly for hazardous or inaccessible places, data collection may be limited to a few spot measurements and/or few pictures. Aerial robotics eases access to otherwise unreachable locations. Aerial robots can collect high quality visual data. Moreover, the modular sensory mechanism allows different types of NDT measurement to be performed. Automated data collection, processing and report generation, along with accurate location tagging and sophisticated fl aw detection algorithms and time series analysis, make aerial robotic technology an effective tool for high quality data collection. Avestec's aerial robot is equipped with the following NDT sensors: Ultrasonic thickness (UT) sensor with liquid couplant dispenser. Coating sensor. Surface profilometry. Mechanism for surface cleaning (surface preparation) prior to measurements. Figure 1. Aerial robotic platform performing tank inspection at high elevation. Figure 2. Aerial robotic platform inspecting corroded plates in confined space.