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Utilities

Close up of pylons in powerline corridor cut through forested landscape.

Utilities inspection and vegetation management

The Utilities sector, spanning the production, transmission and sale of electricity, natural gas, oil and hydropower, is a highly regulated industry with many statutory obligations. From safety improvement, siting and abandonment of facilities, mandatory reliability standards through to environmental matters, there is a continual need for the survey, mapping and assessment of assets and corridors including transmission lines, gas and oil pipelines, water conveyance infrastructure and water pipelines.

The power of the Routescene UAV LiDAR system is the ability to:

  • Quickly survey sections of powerlines and pipelines where there are gaps in existing LiDAR data
  • Survey sites and sections which cannot be scanned with airborne LiDAR methods
  • Survey sites and sections that are difficult to access or hazardous due to steep slopes, natural hazards or dense vegetation
  • Detect assets which are obstructed by vegetation.
ApplicationSpecific benefits of UAV LiDAR in the Utilities sector
Powerline or oil and gas pipeline inspection
  • 3D mapping of assets along a corridor or across a network
  • Asset condition assessment to inform maintenance planning
  • Survey damage after natural disasters
  • Right of Way (ROW) mapping
  • 3D mapping of proposed corridors
  • Satisfy safety requirements
Dam
maintenance
  • To monitor the condition of the dam, predict potential deterioration, identify issues or structure failure, and plan preventive maintenance
  • Dams possess steep slopes which are difficult to survey, UAV LiDAR is the safe way to undertake quick, repeatable surveys for monitoring and maintenance
Water pipelines
  • Often located in naturally hazardous environments such as steep canyons, where the sides are so steep and close together it is impossible to fly a helicopter through it. Using UAV LiDAR is the perfect solution
  • Asset mapping and condition assessment particularly for ageing wastewater infrastructure
  • Accurate modelling and measurement of pipeline features
Vegetation management

Mapping to inform vegetation management to prevent safety, environmental, legal, erosion, economic and productivity issues


Wildfire prevention
  • Statutory obligations include the implementation of programs to improve safety, such as reducing the number of fires started from utility assets
  • Vegetation overgrowth is the leading cause of outages for utilities, sparking up to 5,000 wildfires annually
  • Analyze wildfire risk and potential exposure

Use case

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