Drones in utilities and energy sectors

Not all readers will remember August 14, 2003, but 50 million people living in Northeast America probably do. This was the date of the worst power outage on the North American continent ever recorded – it left those 50 million literally in the dark. This is why power companies spend millions of dollars to fly helicopters to survey the power lines in hopes of finding out what exactly went wrong and in seeking new ways of meeting grid reliability standards.

They use a variety of sensing technologies in addition to visual inspections, too. Thermal imaging cameras and radar sensors are used extensively to spot thermal and physical issues w/ wirelines.… Read the rest