Drones for Transmission Infrastructure Inspection and Mapping Improve Efficiency

When most industry professionals think about drones, they envision a small, toy‐like object with multiple blades hovering around their infrastructure, recklessly maneuvering for the pilot's enjoyment, or worse, for nefarious reasons. Often the thought immediately conjured up is of damaged electrical transmission lines or poles, damaged pipelines, gas leaks, or worse. Instead, they should envision cost savings, improved understanding of asset health, and increased safety and compliance. Energy companies, utilities, and others have already adopted the use of these unmanned aircraft, with the use of these aircraft and their sensors continuing to steadily increase to more accurately understand infrastructure and to do so in three‐dimensional space.