A complete inspection system
Safe, timely and cost-effective visual inspection
Unlimited flight time, superior image stability and enhanced inspection situational awareness. A tethered drone system designed for inspection of confined spaces and indoor industrial assets.
Drone-based inspection system for industrial confined spaces
The combined offering of the Scout 137 Drone System and the Scout Portal enables you to:
- Carry out your visual inspection in a safe, timely and cost-effective manner
- Inspect closed-off spaces with limited or no human entry with unlimited flight time
- Utilize a fiberoptic data network providing cloud portal access
Improved safety by reducing need to enter hazardous areas
Improved data quality and situational awareness in data capture
Reduced asset down-time through flexible inspection regimes
Reduced cost by avoiding scaffolding, climbers and rescue teams
Scout 137 Drone System
Our inspection system is based around a robust quadcopter drone. The drone can easily climb to heights and gather video inspection footage from unlit spaces where human access will be unsafe, time-consuming and expensive.
The drone is tethered to a ground station the size of a small suitcase. This unit is part of the system and provides unlimited flight time and network connection to the drone throughout the inspection.
By connecting the ground station to local Wi-Fi or plugging in a 4G modem, the system can be connected directly to the internet. This enables features beyond the traditional scenario where the operator makes all important decisions on-site and inspection data is archived on memory cards.
“The Scout drone system did a complete visual inspection of a tank on one of our FPSOs — avoiding use of climbers. We really like the way inspection data is geo-tagged and presented in the Scout web portal”
Confinedindustrial spaces and drone autonomy
The system is especially designed to operate indoors in GPS-denied locations. Its ideal environments are industrial confined spaces and non-entry locations where it is hazardous or not desirable to deploy personnel.
An onboard LiDAR handles the positioning that allows the drone to navigate in confined spaces. Further, custom on-board algorithms provide autonomy in terms of position stability and robust anti-collision functionality. This maintains the safety of personnel and equipment while keeping the operator in control of operation.
Read more about Scout 137 drone autonomy here and watch a video illustrating Scout 137 obstacle detection.
Read more and watch a video demonstrating position stability here.
The onboard LiDAR is designed to operate in GPS-denied locations and allows the drone to operate in confined space.
The Scout Portal enables you to participate remotely and see inspection replays anytime and from anywhere.
The Scout Portal: Live remote participation and inspection replay
Our value chain does not end with the drone storing 4K camera footage on a memory card. The drone is a very advanced piece of equipment, but its first and foremost function is to provide data. One intended use of the LiDAR-data from the drone is for real-time support to the operator on-site. But as all video footage is location-tagged using the same LiDAR-data, all inspection findings are easily backtracked to the exact position and bearing of the drone at the moment the find was marked. This makes it also useful for a post-inspection situation: You can very easily find the anomaly afterwards.
The drone’s ground station is fitted with a LAN connector to connect local Wi-Fi, a 4G modem or even satellite-based internet. When the drone system is connected to the internet, all inspection data is also forwarded to the Scout Portal live during inspection. The benefits of the Scout Portal include:
Learn More
Scout 137 Drone →
The Scout 137 Drone System has been specifically designed to give you control, coverage, and situational awareness for your confined space inspection activities.
Scout Portal →
The Scout Portal is our powerful cloud-based tool for inspection data management, review, analysis and reporting.
