03 / TECHNOLOGY
Seeing, measuring, flying:
inside the technology of inspection.
Cameras, infrared, LiDAR, radar, contact testing and AI — and how drones hover and navigate tight spaces. The technology that decides inspection quality, explained from first principles.
After reading: you can work back from the inspection goal to the sensors and flight conditions you need.
CHAPTERS
Technology & principles
Visible-light imaging and photogrammetry
Every photo able to say which millimetre of which structure it shows.
Read moreInfrared thermography
Finding anomalies before failure, from heat, at the right time of day.
Read moreLiDAR
Dark shafts and wires through forests, captured to the centimetre.
Read moreRadar
Finding voids under roads, widely, before they collapse.
Read moreAI and data management
Every image tied to a member and a year, and only the changes reaching people.
Read moreFlight principles
Know why it flies, and you know how close it can go.
Read moreNavigation and autonomy
Same spot, same angle, year after year.
Read moreContact inspection
Measuring thickness and listening for hollows, without building scaffolds.
Read moreRemote and BVLOS operations
Hundreds of inspection drones in the air, and no collisions.
Read moreThe wider robot family
Fly, drive, climb, dive, walk: inspection as a team.
Read more