Beyond Patrols: Asset Inspection, Vegetation Management Service

A new service combines asset inspection and LiDAR with existing patrols. The company behind the service, NM Group (Network Mapping Inc.) is a specialist provider of geospatial data, analytics, engineering services and software to electrical utilities. It says it can help pick up critical defects a helicopter safety patrol might have missed. It also says it can help reduce the amount of survey flights needed in a year.

Patrol+ applies the technology and interpretation tool to acquire significantly more asset information without affecting your patrols.

1) High resolution imagery of every asset and a comprehensive defect inspection

• Identify and geo-locates every defect
• Prioritize any safety defects found on the line or corridor
• Provide accurate locations for all structures for updating system records IR and UV inspections can be included to maximize the value from a flight
• Create defect information as a report or for integration with your existing GIS/Asset management system

2) Objective corridor vegetation report using a lightweight LiDAR scanner

• Rapid vegetation analysis provides clearance data to conductors
• The application of LiDAR can reduce total vegetation management spend by 20%-40%
• Client specific reporting ensures the data is actionable
• Vegetation reports ready to integrate with your existing GIS system or to populate work orders
• Ground clearance and structural defect analysis can be provided at the same time

Also, see "Operations Beyond Visual Line of Sight" from the November issue of T&D World.