Unmanned Aerial Electric Utility Inspection Services

Unmanned Aerial Inspection of Electric Transmission and Distribution Assets

From proactive asset management to post-event emergency response, our team of experienced UAV pilots, engineers and project managers work with our electric utility customers to deploy unmanned aerial systems while focusing on delivering high-quality, actionable data. We collaborate with the utility industry to carry out test flights, pilot programs, commercial UAV inspection services and R&D.

Key Benefits

01. Reduced Inspection and Patrol Costs

Avoiding use of manned helicopters, vehicle patrols and foot patrols to inspect lines and surrounding vegetation reduces costs and improves safety.

02. Improve Electric System Reliability

UAV inspections improve the ability to proactively locate faults, trips, hazardous trees and non-standard conditions to prevent failures.

03. Improve the Safety of Utility Workers

Reduce utility employee exposure to hazardous terrain, operating manned aircraft, working at heights and exposure to high voltage assets.

04. Custom Developed Unmanned Aerial Systems

Our custom developed UAVs enable our team to obtain large data sets through highly efficient inspection flights and are being developed around the requirements for long range flights.

05. More Efficient Use of Utility Resources

Through efficient pinpointing of problem areas and improved ability to locate faults, UAVs enable utilities to focus resources on areas that need them the most.

06. Access Advanced Asset Data

Aerial data obtained through thermal, LiDAR, multispectral and other payloads deliver improvements to reliability, emergency response, vegetation management and GIS groups.

07. Customizable Data Deliverables

Our UAV team will collaborate with your electric network to determine what data needs to be obtained and how to best report that data back to the utility.

08. Integration into GIS Systems

We work with our utility customers to determine how to integrate data obtained through UAVs into existing GIS systems.

UAV Application Areas

electric transmission uav aerial inspection

Transmission System Inspection

Our team works with electric utilities to conduct UAV inspections over transmission facilities and right-of-ways to find and fix issues and improve system reliability. Our data helps identify outdated or problematic components for change-outs, non-standard conditions, tree limbs on power lines, unsecured conductors and more.

drone utility storm response

Rapid Post-Event and Storm Response

Our team deploys UAVs before and after storms to integrate advanced comparative data in conjunction with your outage management system (OMS) to improve decision making and reduce service restoration times.

Substation and Electric Facility Inspection

Using high resolution and thermal imaging cameras, our UAV team conducts flights over electric substations to identify hot spots, poor connections, damaged components and security concerns before they lead to equipment failure.

Distribution System Inspection

Remote inspection of distribution lines in hard-to-access areas such as rear-property pole lines enable our team to identify concerns while negating the need to have utility workers access private property or navigate challenging terrain. Our call center even handles customer notification prior to flying to provide an end-to-end turnkey solution.

Mapping and Surveys

ULC Aerial Services delivers cost effective mapping and site surveys to electric utility engineering and construction teams to help plan for infrastructure expansions, provide construction progress documentation and more. Geo-referenced images obtained from our UAVs can be imported as 3d models directly into CAD and engineering programs.

Electric T&D Vegetation Management

ULC Aerial Services conducts autonomous flights over electric transmission right-of-ways that enables cost effective identification of vegetation clearances, undergrowth assessment, audit of tree trim contractors, predictive modelling and more thorough HD imagery, LiDAR data and other sensors.

WORKING WITH ULC AERIAL SERVICES

We deliver a cost-effective, end-to-end solution for unmanned aerial inspection services in the utility and energy industy.

Safer Aircraft: In order to provide safer UAV inspections around utility facilities, we develop our own unmanned aerial systems complete with redundant components, longer flight times and improved payload capacities.

Redefining Data Deliverables: Every utility works differently, which is why we work to understand exactly what data you want and how to deliver that data in a meaningful way.

The Right Approach: Innovation, research and development happens every day at ULC. We’ll work with you to conduct test flights, pilot programs and commercial services.

Utility Industry Experience: Our unmanned aerial inspection services program is backed by 20 years of utility industry research and development and technology field deployment experience.

Notifications and Communication: UAV flights over utility infrastructure may require authorizations, approvals, notifications and direct customer communication. Our team is able to handle this process as part of our comprehensive inspection service.

Team of Experts: Our UAV program is led by a highly experienced program manager and lead pilot who collaborate with our team of engineers, sensor scientists and software engineers to provide you with customized, beneficial deliverables.

Next Steps

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Unmanned Aerial Inspection of Electric Transmission and Distribution Assets

Key Benefits

UAV Application Areas

We deliver a cost-effective, end-to-end solution for unmanned aerial inspection services in the utility and energy industy.

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