UAS News | THERMAL SENSORS: REAL-TIME INSPECTION

Currently, local-scale remote sensing monitoring is increasing exponentially. This is due to great technological advancements in recent years and the emergence of unmanned aerial systems as work tools for photogrammetric surveys and/or real-time visual inspection, along with their ability to carry a variety of sensors. Among the most prominent sensors in visual inspection are thermal sensors, which capture the brightness temperature of objects and/or scenes, allowing for information of interest to be obtained in various applications such as:

• Electrical monitoring and inspection in generators and photovoltaic plants
• Environmental inspections such as the detection of heating not in compliance with regulations.
• Early warning of natural emergencies such as forest fires.

• Search for lost persons, support in fires (police and firefighters).
• Security, monitoring of personnel external to the workplace.

GEOCOM, as a specialist company in the field, offers multiple solutions to address these issues, notably DJI Enterprise solutions:

This range of products starts with an entry-level solution, the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual, and culminates with the most advanced and productive solutions on the market, the M200 series and M300 RTK.

 

 CASE STUDY 

 INSPECTION OF WOOD HEATER USE BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUPERINTENDENCY 

The use of wood heaters is prohibited in the Greater Santiago area because it promotes air pollution and respiratory diseases. For this reason, the Environmental Superintendency uses Matrice 210 RTK V2 with Zenmuse X7 and Zenmuse XT2 cameras to monitor the use of wood for heating.

Technically speaking, the study understands that objects and/or scenes possess the property of energy emission, which can be detected through the heat generated. For this reason, thermal sensors are ideal for inspecting combustion heating, as this process releases energy in the form of heat, which is detectable by the sensor. The potential of performing this inspection with the Zenmuse XT2 camera is to have MSX technology, which combines the visual of the photographic sensor with the thermal sensor, improving video resolution. The thermal histogram can also be adjusted by previously having the thermal parameters of this process in order to exclusively detect the process or object of interest.