Wind Farm Surveying with aerial UAV Drone Pilot

Unmanned aerial vehicles such as DJI drones are ideal for both onshore, and offshore wind farm operators, drastically cutting costs and improving safety due to the ease and convenience.

Remotely operated drones with skilled pilots, coupled with good surveyors are becoming the standard in assessing damage to wind turbine blades; the outer and inner layers most specifically for good structural integrity.

Land surveyors can be costly and time consuming for wind farms for obvious reasons, but aerial surveyors can provide very high-resolution imagery, all whilst requiring a limited ground access to carry out the survey. Aerial surveying like this takes people out of the danger of otherwise dangerous situations.

Following are some of the main benefits of a UAV survey when compared to a traditional land survey:

o UAV drones are far more cost-effective
o The site work can be done in a much faster time-frame
o High resolution images in a RAW format showing excellent detail
o Limited ground access is required on site
o Hazardous and inaccessible land can be surveyed
o UAVs offer improved data – topographical information plus high-resolution aerial imagery

Note: We work alongside Surveyors and engineers, but we ourselves are not qualified surveyors.

Our equipment

We use a Mavic Pro 2 with a mounted Hasselblad camera. This has a superior Sony sensor than that of DJI’s standard drone gimbal cameras, and this one in particular has a 1-inch sensor with 14 stops of dynamic range with RAW capability. We carry our CAA certification for PfCO (Permission for commercial operations) with us, along with safety equipment which is a legal requirement, such as a small fire extinguisher, a drone-landing pad, safety cones, fire blanked and a high vis jacket as standard.

Our Methodology

Aerial surveys require careful strategic planning, studying the specific objective, the intention, the method in which we
plan and prepare the drone flight, administration of safety checks and flight plans and the communication with a flight observer on the ground.

• An observation is first undertaken of the area, to check for any hazards in the air and on the ground in a radius around the perimeter. If the area is within radius of a protected airspace such as an airport, we’ll contact the nearby ATC and attempt to gain clearance (this part can take up to 10 days).
• A flight plan is prepared, taking into the area to be surveyed, with a NOTAM to be established for the given time and day of flight. We’ll also check wind speed and direction, take-off and landing areas (entry and exit points) and even check ordnance survey maps and Google maps to ensure there are no hidden problems.
• This requires experience and skill to ensure the data is captured to the correct specification and safely.
• We’ll turn up on site on the planned day and plan a short on-site observation. This will be to check the pre-flight assessment was accurate and to tune situational awareness onto the project.
• I’ll provide a short briefing of the flight objectives and brief you on any hazards and procedures that may occur.
• We’ll get the necessary images and/or footage of the objective and land safely.
• The images will be downloaded from the UAV and processed. These can be sent to you or your surveyor within the same day.