THE DRONE SQUAD 10 SMARTER OPERATIONS REMOTE INSPECTIONS

Transcription

1 10 SMARTER OPERATIONS REMOTE INSPECTIONS Cezary Galnsk, Senor Prncpal Surveyor, s Head of the DNV GL drone squad based n Gdyna, Poland. THE DRONE SQUAD Wth four drone types n ts arsenal, DNV GL has adapted ts survey technology to varous shp structures. Recently DNV GL reached a new mlestone wth ts frst offshore drone survey. 12 October 2017 s a gusty day n Gdyna, Poland, and outsde the DNV GL staton Leszek Alba s watng for the wnd to change. Alba s one of DNV GL s 16 drone surveyors. Today, he s testng the Custom drone s stablty n dfferent wnd condtons and the stablty of the vdeo transmsson an mportant factor durng the nspecton of remote structural components n tanks and cargo holds. 18 months after DNV GL carred out ts frst producton drone survey n June 2016, t has become the leadng provder n ths feld. When we started out, we wanted to fnd a safer, more effcent and cheaper way of fulfllng the requrements of close-up surveys. Durng these nspectons, a surveyor has to be able to touch a surface to check the condton of the materal, explans Cezary Galnsk, Senor Prncpal Surveyor and Head of the DNV GL drone squad. Ths global team s headquartered n Gdyna but also works out of Duba, Shangha, Sngapore and Houston. So nstead of takng the surveyor to the component, we brng the component to the surveyor, MARITIME IMPACT 02/2017

2 REMOTE INSPECTIONS SMARTER OPERATIONS 11 Wnd condtons and the flyng dstances make offshore drone surveys a partcular challenge for drone surveyors. 02/2017 MARITIME IMPACT

3 12 SMARTER OPERATIONS REMOTE INSPECTIONS FLYABILITY ELIOS The Flyablty Elos drone s enclosed by a round cage, makng t partcularly robust and collson-resstant. It s used n tght, confned spaces. on 4k, hgh-defnton vdeo, he adds. So far the team has conducted more than 25 drone producton surveys around the world. Typcal shps nclude tankers, bulkers and, more recently, sem-submersbles and jack-ups. These are the vessel types that requre close-up surveys, explans Galnsk. DNV GL has four drone types n ts arsenal: The Custom drone, the DJI Phantom, the Mavc drone and the Flyablty Elos drone each wth dfferent capabltes and areas of applcaton. What they all have n common s that they were modfed n Leszek Alba s workshop. Ths cellar room, flled wth carefully catalogued shelves, spare cables, batteres, solderng rons and a varety drones n dfferent stages of constructon, s where DNV GL customzes off-the-shelf drones to make them ft for nspecton purposes. Makng a DNV GL drone Commercally avalable drones are bult for users who fly them outsde n open spaces and shoot footage of objects below. So, one of the frst thngs we do s change the drone s software settngs for adjustng the camera angle. Ths enables us to flm objects that are n front of or above the drone, says Galnsk. MARITIME IMPACT 02/2017

4 REMOTE INSPECTIONS SMARTER OPERATIONS 13 Addng protectve gear s the next step. We have to fly the drones close to shp structures, therefore we developed a specal cage for the DJI Phantom drone. And we equpped the Custom drone wth a protectve wre to sheld ts propellers, the camera and the lghtng systems we attach to t to enable t to operate n dark spaces, says Alba. Galnsk s team has also ftted the Custom drone wth a zoom camera. Ths means that nstead of havng to fly wthn dstances as short as one metre from the structure, the drone can take hgh-defnton mages from further away. A surveyor has to be able to touch a surface to check the condton of the materal. So nstead of takng the surveyor to the component, we brng the component to the surveyor, on 4k, hgh-defnton vdeo. Cezary Galnsk, Senor Prncpal Surveyor and Head of the DNV GL Drone Squad DNV GL s frst offshore drone survey Ths s partcularly mportant when surveyors fly the drone on the open ocean, and has proved to be ncremental to the success of DNV GL s frst offshore drone survey, whch was carred out on the semsubmersble vessel Safe Scandnava n July 2017 (scan QR code on page 11 to watch the vdeo). Ths tender support vessel (TSV) owned and operated by Prosafe supports Statol s drllng operatons off the coast of Norway. It was a great opportunty for us to demonstrate our drone s ablty to check the condton of remote external components n challengng offshore condtons. The nspecton only requred the semsubmersble to deballast. We flew the drone approx- mately 25 metres below the man deck to check the condton of the farleads and ther connectons to the columns that hold up the TSV. Wth wnd speeds of about 15 knots, ths went very well and the survey showed that the farleads and ther connectons were n a good condton, says Galnsk. It was a frst for the owner Prosafe as well. Innovaton s one of our core values. We are very pleased to have chosen to try the drone survey, as t helped us optmze our survey requrements and allowed us to save sgnfcant amounts of tme and money. DJI PHANTOM The DJI Phantom drone can operate for about 20 mnutes and s lghter than the Custom drone. It s used for external surveys but can also be flown nsde spaces such as tanks. When ftted wth ts protectve sheld t s more resstant to damage. 02/2017 MARITIME IMPACT

5 14 SMARTER OPERATIONS REMOTE INSPECTIONS Normally ths knd of operaton would cause a dsrupton of several days to our clent. The drone survey took only a few hours and was just as effectve, says Ian Young, Chef Operatng Offcer at Prosafe. The challenges To get to ths pont, Galnsk s team has gone through years of experments, modfcatons and practce runs. And even after optmzng the technology, flyng drones on martme structures comes wth ts own set of challenges. When nspectng the cargo hold of a large ol tanker, for example, you have to fly the drone about 30 metres away n the dark. In addton, the plots are surrounded by thousands of tonnes of steel, whch means that the drone s GPS and magnetc compass, whch usually help t dentfy ts poston, don t work nor does ts postonng support. Ths makes ts behavour somewhat unpredctable, says Galnsk. If you fly a drone n your garden wth the poston-keepng functon enabled, you can push t away and t wll automatcally return to where t was before. On a shp, any sudden nput may cause the drone to become unstable and requre the plot to correct ts poston manually, he adds. Durng an offshore survey the plots have to manoeuvre the drone along structures at dstances of up to 180 metres. In ths knd of envronment DNV GL drone surveyor Leszek Alba tests the Custom drone outsde the Gdyna offce. MAVIC The Mavc drone s the DJI Phantom s smaller cousn. Its trpod mode slows down ts operatonal speed consderably, makng t deal for slow manoeuvrng and close-up surveys, where t gets as close as one metre to the structure. MARITIME IMPACT 02/2017

6 REMOTE INSPECTIONS SMARTER OPERATIONS 15 the wnd s the greatest rsk factor. We chose the DJI Phantom drone for the Safe Scandnava survey, because t can be ftted wth a cage. Protectng the drone was mportant, snce we were operatng t close to obstacles such as anchor chans and wres. What s great about the DJI Phantom drone s ts compact sze. It fts nto a backpack, makng t convenent to take offshore by helcopter, explans Alba. The successful survey demonstrated that the Custom drone was up to the challenge: t not only survved the nspecton but also delvered valuable results. The future of drone surveys Lookng ahead Galnsk expects drones to revolutonze the nspecton regme. I am confdent we wll see the ntroducton of autonomous drones. Ths would open up many new possbltes. For example, they could be dropped nto nerted compartments where humans cannot enter, he explans. The surveyor could stay outsde whle the drone would follow a predefned flght path to check the condton of the compartment. Ths would enable us to carry out nspectons wthout lengthy preparatons, whle keepng the surveyors safe, adds Galnsk. In future, t mght even be possble for an autonomous drone equpped wth artfcal ntellgence to carry out a survey ndependently, montored by the surveyor from the shore offce usng a vrtual-realty headset. CUSTOM For the tme beng, the autonomous functonalty stll requres further development. Outsde drones can follow a predefned flght path usng a GPS sgnal. But for confned steel compartments we need to fnd an alternatve approach, says Galnsk. In a jont research project DNV GL and the Unversty of Trondhem, Norway, are developng an autonomous drone. Wth several optons under consderaton, Galnsk expects to see the frst autonomous surveys of nerted compartments n the near future. Two of our drone plots have completed the BVLOS (Beyond Vsual Lne of Sght) certfcaton, allowng them to operate drones beyond the lne of sght. So whle drone nspectons reman a nche for now, more advanced models wth AI capabltes could soon transform shp surveys. We want to be ready for ths. AJO DNV GL Expert Cezary Galnsk, Senor Prncpal Surveyor Phone: E-Mal: cezary.galnsk@dnvgl.com The Custom drone, a fve-klogramme heavyweght, s the largest of the DNV GL survey drones. Wth a 20-mnute operatng tme t s deal for external surveys. 02/2017 MARITIME IMPACT