Pipeline Inspection Drone
                     Drone Pipeline Inspection
When it comes to monitoring vital pipeline infrastructure, safety is the 
number one concern. 
Pipelines are an integral part of our transportation system, carrying oil 
and natural gas across the country every day. When pipelines fail, they 
can cause tremendous damage to our environment and economy.
According to The Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) every 
year in the US there are about 500 significant incidents involving liquid 
pipelines that result in roughly $50 million worth of damages annually . 
And then there are several times that amount in undetected leaks that 
go unreported each year . There is no doubt that this kind of damage is 
undesirable; not only does it cost money but also puts human lives at 
stake.
In order to reduce the number of incidents, pipeline operators employ a 
variety of monitoring techniques that go above and beyond the use of 
leak-detection equipment. These techniques include aerial surveys , 
flow meters, and data from nearby pipelines . However, these methods 
have limitations as they often rely on infrastructure already in place or 
have to be specially requested.
What is drone pipeline inspection? A drone is a type of unmanned 
aircraft system (UAS), which has been gaining popularity recently 
mainly for its ability to carry cameras over large areas with diverse 
topography to collect visual intelligence. As you might imagine, this 
presents a significant improvement over old-fashioned inspectors who 
needed days to complete their task if not weeks or even months due to 
inclement weather.
Drones are designed to make expensive and time-consuming tasks less 
costly and more efficient, which can be seen in the realm of satellite 
imagery, where companies like Google Earth have improved efficiency 
by over tenfold.
Aerial surveys using drones were first used for inspecting pipelines back 
in 2014 by an oil company called Enbridge Inc., however their use has 
become more widespread since then. A 2015 study conducted by Shell 
Pipek Group found that drones allowed them to inspect up to 30% of 
pipelines annually instead of 10%. This means they could potentially 
catch leaks early on thus saving costs over the long run.
Pipeline inspection is not just limited to visual inspection though; 
pipeline operators are also beginning to experiment with deploying 
specialised drones for other purposes such as airborne leak detection .
Pipeline inspection using drones allows operators to monitor a network 
of pipelines from a safe distance and provides them with accurate data 
that they can rely on in the event of a leak. In fact, while drone 
inspections are still relatively new, companies report that they have 
already helped catch several leaks that would otherwise have gone 
undetected for months or even years.