POWER April 2016 - 34

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
1. Drone art. The Pulse Aerospace Vapor unmanned air vehicle can mount a variety of payloads
and stay aloft up to an hour. The system is being used by utilities to inspect transmission
lines, among other functions. Courtesy: Pulse Aerospace
these things now in a professional way. "
Modern commercial drones, Velicovich
explained, have stabilizing technology that
allows them to hover safely even when an
operator is not at the controls. They also
have " return home " functions that can bring
them back to their starting point with the
push of a button. Commercial drones also
have GPS controls that allow them to follow
precise flight plans as well as automatically
stay out of restricted airspace or areas of the
plant where it might be unsafe for the drone
to go.
The latter function, known as " geo-fencing, "
uses GPS to restrict where a drone will
fly. When the drone reaches the edge of a
restricted area, it will stop in midair even if
the operator tries to make it go further. If
the drone is taken into a restricted area, such
as the vicinity of an airport, it will not even
take off.
burdensome. Commercial drone operators
need to apply for an exemption under Section
333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform
Act of 2012. (That section, in fact, only
directs the FAA to assess the need for regulating
UASs and develop appropriate regulations.
The FAA has issued an array of rules in
addition to a proposed framework that would
allow commercial use without prior authorization
under certain circumstances.) The process
of obtaining a Section 333 waiver and a
Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA)
requires the assistance of a lawyer and can
take several months.
A Section 333 waiver, despite what might be
assumed from the name, does not exempt the
UAS operator from federal regulations. Rather,
it allows daytime UAS use under 400 feet in
specific areas (usage at night is prohibited).
There are also an increasing number of
state and local regulations governing the
use of drones-the types that are allowed
and how and where they may be operated.
For this reason, generators considering
the use of drones in plant operations and
maintenance (O&M) are strongly advised
to consult a lawyer familiar with drone law
before their first flight. Failure to do so
could result in fines and potentially even
criminal prosecution.
Getting Up to Speed
With an FAA exemption in hand and other
legal restrictions dealt with, plant managers
need to spend some time thinking about how
a drone will be used and how it can save time
and money and reduce risk to plant staff. " For
that environment, " Velicovich said, " the local
hobby shop is not going to be able to tell you
what you need. "
Jon Amdur, vice president and program
manager for unmanned aerial systems with
34
Aecom's design and consulting services division,
told POWER that a lot of clients approach
the use of drones without having a
clear idea of what they can do and how they
can help around a plant. " Sometimes the expectations
are too high, and sometimes they
are too low. They do not really understand
what the systems are capable of. " Additionally,
he said, the technology is advancing so
rapidly that what can be done today may be
significantly less than what is possible a few
months later.
That's why many generators and utilities
employing drones do what Xcel did and enPutting
Drones to Work
What can you do around your plant with the
right drone? Possibly a lot more than you
realize.
Drones have been available for power
plant inspections for a few years (see " Drones
Promise Faster, Easier Inspection of Boilers,
Stacks, Towers, and More " in the April 2014
issue), but their capabilities are rapidly growing.
In addition to video cameras (available
in resolutions up to 4K), drones can also
mount lidar, infrared (IR), multispectral and
hyperspectral imagers, and essentially any
. . .generators considering the use of drones
in plant operations and maintenance (O&M)
are strongly advised to consult a lawyer
familiar with drone law before their first
flight. Failure to do so could result in fines
and potentially even criminal prosecution.
gage the services of a third-party company
that is familiar with the many varieties of
commercial drones on the market and their
various capabilities. Such firms can perform
the inspections themselves or train plant staff
to operate the generator's drone fleet. The latter
is less challenging than it might seem.
" There is a lot of misconception in the
business world that drones are difficult, " Velicovich
said, " because everyone seems to have
flown or seen flown one of those little quadcopters
that lifts off and immediately crashes
into a wall and breaks. That's not how drones
work nowadays. It's incredibly easy to fly
www.powermag.com
inspection tool that is light enough for the
drone to carry.
Drones are especially well suited for aerial
mapping and 3-D modeling because of their
ability to follow precise, GPS-guided flight
paths. " You can literally create a 3-D model
within minutes of a drone flying around your
plant, " Velicovich explained. " You can completely
map your entire infrastructure and
create a digital model of your plant. "
(Note that while this sort semi-autonomous
operation is allowed, the operator must still be
at the controls and remain in visual line-ofsight
at all times. Fully autonomous operation
POWER | April 2016

http://www.powermag.com

POWER April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER April 2016