Uncrewed Systems Technology 049 - April/May 2023

109 comparable period, representing a loss of more than £1000. At that point, it called in DroneWorks. The company is certified in the UK by the British Institute of Non- Destructive Testing as a Cat 1 provider of thermography services, able to collect infrared data to the required standards. Hinsley argues that, in addition to improving safety, UAVs collect that data more than 50 times faster than is possible with manual methods. The company started its main aerial inspection business in April 2019, introducing thermography the following year, says Hinsley, who came from a software engineering background where he gained experience developing bespoke software to automate data processing and workflows. “I feel the value is in the data, and drones with the right sensors are a very efficient method of collecting data at scale, safely and quickly,” he says. “With good data and the right software, there are numerous applications; the property and construction sector in particular can benefit from this in a big way.” He adds that DroneWorks was set up to provide solutions to those sectors on the basis of fast and accurate collection of data and on exploiting software to deliver that data in a way that makes it easy to understand. “Ultimately, this saves the client time and money, and grants insights not previously possible,” he says. Tool for the job The Bleasdale mission took place in August 2022, for which DroneWorks used a DJI M210 RTK v2, an electric quadcopter with a maximum take-off weight of 6.14 kg and a maximum payload of 1.72 kg, figures that include two 7660 mAh DJI TB55 batteries. Hinsley describes the M210 as a flexible, robust platformwith good flight times and multiple payloads and sensors, suiting it to many kinds of inspection and survey work. The facility to swap sensors in the field quickly to collect different types of data makes it versatile as well, he notes. Aimed at commercial operations, it is reliable, has multiple safety features including geofencing, comes with ‘return home’ logic in case of a lost link and a separate front camera to help with navigation, he says. It is also larger than something like a Mavic 2 and carries a bright strobe, making it highly visible. For the Bleasdale job, the M210 carried a dual-camera DJI Zenmuse XT2 sensor system. “This provides a radiometric IR image alongside a visual image to ensure we have as much information as possible to provide an accurate report to the client,” Hinsley says. Radiometric sensor The Zenmuse XT2 features an uncooled micro-bolometer radiometric sensor operating at wavelengths between 7.5 and 13.5microns in the long-wave IR band. The core of the sensor is a 640 x 512 element vanadiumoxide focal plane array DroneWorks solar panel inspection | In operation Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2023 DroneWorks’ DJI Matrice M210 RTK with a Zenmuse XT2 radiometric thermal camera and 12 MP CMOS visible-light camera (Images courtesy of DroneWorks) The roof of Bleasdale Parish Hall, in northern England, with its two strings of PV panels, a 50% drop in the output of which led its owners to contract a thermal survey