Aerial & Underwater Drone Surveys for the transportation sector in the UK is allowing onsite visual inspections of difficult access location to take place with minimal or no operational shut down.
Unlike conventional access inspection and survey services that involve scaffolding, ladders, cherry pickers and lift units, aerial drones can operate during heavy traffic and ‘live environment’ situations to conduct inspections of key transportation infrastructure without having to shut down, divert or introduce temporary traffic light systems.
Why traditional inspection is outdated.
A railway bridge (for example) requires visual inspection to be carried out on a scheduled time cycle to ensure the structural integrity of the bridge and to spot for any signs of weather/storm damage. Traditional inspection teams would require ‘at height’ access equipment which, depending on the structure, may require expensive scaffolding systems to be constructed or a rope access team to be hired. Both are expensive solutions that can, more often than not, require the train track section to be taken ‘offline’ for a period of time. This can result in passenger trains being cancelled, commercial freight trains to be rerouted and significant disruption to be caused.
Aerial Drone Surveys are the future
With an aerial drone survey however, there is no need to shut down a section of track. There is no need for expensive scaffolding or a full rope access team with safety support.
We can conduct visual drone surveys using commercial drones to conduct close up visual inspections of transport infrastructure, bridges, signalling and power lines. This can all be done quickly, with a two man drone team and can cover a large area quickly and with powerful results.
Award winning reporting
Our aerial drone surveys capture not just photographic imagery. They also take HD video and thermal imaging stills of ‘Points of Interest’. Hundreds, if not thousands of photos can be processed with our award winning cloud based software to produce survey and inspection reports that can easily be shared with engineers and other relevant departments as part of the inspection process.
Aerial drones can capture footage from vantage points that are simply not possible any other way – and all for a fraction of the cost of a traditional inspection team.
A sandstone railway bridge from the Victorian era (for example) that requires regular inspections to ensure its suitability for use on the train line, can be inspected regularly with our drone team as part of a scheduled maintenance package. Our drones can capture footage using GPS location tagging so that future data can literally be compared back to back with existing archived reporting to better and more accurately monitor any developing points of interest on the bridge. Being able to spot and monitor these developing issues early can save you considerably on future repair and maintenance costs.
Thermal Imaging to spot the invisible issues
Equipped with thermal imaging cameras, our drones can conduct a full survey or transportation infrastructure using thermal imaging. This can be invaluable for spotting points of water building up, heat loss and structural weakness that are simply invisible to the naked eye.
Both by land and by sea
While predominantly, our services are required for aerial drone surveys, we also provide underwater inspections using ROV. This can be of use for bridges that have supports under water as well as ship hull inspection for Ferries and Cruise Ships.
Covering the UK Transportation Network
From our head office in Glasgow, we cover all of Scotland and North England for drone surveys in the transportation sector.
From inspection train powerlines and rail bridges to motorway bridges, pedestrian foot bridges, infrastructure buildings and even lighthouses for the shipping sector. Our award winning drone services has seen us grow to become one of the leaders in our field.
To discuss your unique survey requirements, please contact our head office to speak to our drone team. Call 0141 370 4037 or email info@balmore-ltd.co.uk
