An Overview of How Drones are Used for Cell Tower Inspection
Do you know the application of drones in different sectors is worth around $127 billion? Drones have entered various industries to automate operations with increased efficiency. You can equip your company with reliable drone services in multiple fields, including agriculture, communication, and cell tower inspection.
The telecommunication companies that install and mount network feeders are also switching towards a service drone for repair and maintenance. But how do drones help these companies?
This article will show you how drones are used for cell tower inspection. So, let’s begin.
Drones and Cell Tower Inspection
You already know drone construction technology is getting prevalent because of its safer and more efficient approach. The drones are capable of carrying out several tasks, including:
- Surveillance
- Firefighting
- Search and rescue
- Weather monitoring
- Videography
A drone pilot flies the drone at the cell tower’s height to inspect the situation. Although telecommunication companies use advanced technology, they haven’t completely switched to the satellite network. It’s either costly or lacks adaptability. That’s why it’s important to frequently maintain cell towers.
Before drone surveying, companies sent their technical team on-site to complete several jobs. Undoubtedly, the technical team is competent and has all the tools but climbing a cell tower to fix an issue is risky.
So, let’s find out how the drone service is helpful in cell tower inspection.
Aerial Imaging
The most common use of drone technology is aerial imaging. Telecommunication companies need a regular maintenance report of their cell towers, including clear pictures from different angles.
You can check out Flyguys as your drone partner for aerial imaging, LiDAR scanning, thermal inspection, and drone videography. As cell tower inspection requires multiple services, it’s time to switch to drone technology from traditional inspection.
In aerial imaging, a drone pilot will fly the drone to the desired location and capture the cell tower’s photographs for you. The drone is also equipped with other features like:
- LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)
- Ultrasound
- Thermal inspection
You must briefly explain what drone services you want to get the best result. Just like a drone for construction, the drone for cell tower inspection will collect aerial data and return to the station.
The team will retrieve the data and process it in its system because without processing the images; you might not comprehend what the data says.
Drone Pilot and Thermal Imaging
Thermal imaging is another useful feature, especially for construction, telecommunication, and agricultural drones. This feature requires a high-power thermal imaging camera mounted to the drone. The thermal capability detects objects based on heat.
For example, if you are on a search and rescue mission and the weather is bad, the pilot will fly the drone to the nearest location possible to find any heat traces of the lost worker. The heat traces will spot the worker, and you can plan your next move accordingly.
Similarly, telecommunication towers often run into minor issues like:
- Fluctuation
- Misconnection
- Mechanical faults
Using thermal imaging, you can collect pictures from different angles of the faulty cell tower by flying a drone. Since sending a technician up there is risky, the alternate way is to send a drone instead of a human.
The thermal capability of drone videography or aerial imaging can help you identify potential faults in the cell tower.
Remote Inspection of Cell Towers
Thanks to drone surveying, your technical team can now inspect the cell tower without climbing it. A drone, with or without a pilot, will fly at the cell tower’s height and give you live streaming. You can control the drone using the remote and change its location for a better inspection.
While the drone sends you a live feed, the technical team can observe the situation of the cell tower and make a report. The team can also save the video as a part of the briefing and play it in the presentation.
Modern drone videography can provide HD live streaming of cell tower inspection for a better understanding.
Benefits of Using Drone Surveying
Following are the three benefits of using construction drone services for cell tower inspection.
Reduced Cell Tower Inspection Cost
According to a report, the cell tower inspection team costs $65 to $85 an hour, including other expenses like travel. On average, one cell tower needs six hours for its complete inspection. You can do the math and calculate the company’s budget.
But you don’t need a cell-climbing crew for cell tower maintenance and repair. Instead, a reliable drone service will inspect the tower for you. In addition, some service providers might offer a professional drone pilot for aerial surveillance and videography.
Safer Cell Tower Inspection
An incident happened when a 24 years old technician fell off a 260-foot under-construction cell tower and died. But, of course, you already know that cell towers are higher than 260 feet, and some might reach 1,000 feet.
To mitigate the risk, a reliable drone company can inspect the cell towers and gather the data without the risk of losing a human life. Modern drones are equipped with the latest hardware to fly at the desired height and examine the cell tower.
The drone videography also enables the technicians to remotely inspect the cell tower and find areas of improvement. You can equip the drone with other technologies like thermal imaging and LiDAR to collect different data types.
More Accurate Inspections
A drone service for cell tower inspection is budget-friendly and saves time. For example, consider a technical crew climbing up the tower. While changing the direction, the crew member must adjust its safety kit every time it moves and changes its direction.
On the other hand, the drone will directly fly to the spot and collect aerial data with better accuracy. You can also send the drone closer to the cell tower to observe the minor issues.
The drones can capture images and record videos continuously, unlike the cell tower crew. So, drones for cell towers are an economical and more accurate option.
Key Takeaways
As the world moves towards smart gadgets like smartphones, telecommunication and wireless towers will also grow in numbers. To save costs and mitigate the risk of accidents, use drone technology for cell tower inspection to fix problems and make better decisions.