Solving the ‘Just Drone’ Problem for Building and Oil & Gas Inspections

After connecting with various professionals to get a better understanding around how drones are being used by professionals in 2017, it was easy to see that there are distinct issues and challenges for professionals in every industry. For some operators, regulation remains the biggest challenge, while others need to work through issues with public awareness around how they are and want to be using drones. However, there was one issue that everyone mentioned in one way or another, and it related to what happens with the data after a drone captures it.

For many professionals, the concept of how and when they can turn data into an “answer” is a major problem. Countless professionals see and understand the kind of impact UAVs can have on safety and efficiency, but what kind of info are stakeholders going to be able to pull from it all? What should a client expect from this data? These are the sorts of questions that a new solution from Industrial Skyworks is set to answer.

Industrial SkyWorks is dedicated to serving their customers with groundbreaking UAV solutions and data processing, and their new product, Blue Vu, is specifically focused on that data processing piece. Blue Vu is set to do things like relieve engineers and technicians from going through thousands of images to locate themselves in a photo. This new solution will also help avoid stitching errors by eliminating the use of stitched images that often crash the computers. That was an issue Michael Cohen, President & CEO at Industrial SkyWorks, noticed many professionals struggling with.

“What we discovered in the process of stitching these photos together was the areas engineers really wanted to focus on would often contain these errors,” Cohen told Commercial UAV News. “So they don't know whether or not they're looking at a crack between a joint or they're looking at a stitching error. Stitching errors can blur all of the fine details that users want to focus on. You can end up being blind to all of your valuable places. That’s why Blue Vu has been deisgned to give them the ability to look back at the original photograph. That's all anyone needs to look at, and now they have a platform that's able to intelligently manage it.”

Cohen also mentioned that when clients asked him what they were getting from a drone, there were only two answers he could provide. One was to focus on an area of concern and deliver a report focused on that area of concern, and the other was to provide thousands of photos and video. Neither is a commercially viable product, and Blue Vu creates a new option to provides users with a platform to review these essential assets.

“I'm very interested in what I call the ‘just drone’ problem,” Cohen continued. “The drone is essentially half the solution, and we are starting to see products that address the other half in many industries, but it hasn’t really happened for inspections. When you're selling a product or service, you get to that point when the client wants to know what's getting delivered to them. Blue Vu fills that gap.”

The concept of a complete drone solution is also one that’s been coming up more and more in industries like mining and construction. Users are focused on deliverables, but they also don’t want to piece together drone hardware and software solutions themselves. It’s an issue that Blue Vu is diesgned to directly address for inspections in buildings and in oil & gas.

“The value of the drone is obvious,” Cohen said. “I truly believe that. Maybe that wasn't the case a years ago, but today everyone gets it. What you get is photos or video, but that only gets you halfway where you need to go. Blue Vu will take you the rest of the way and solve that ‘just drone’ problem, because we all know it’s not just about the drone. We haven't had a viable wall inspection product before Blue Vu and I'm looking forward to seeing how that's going to blow open that industry, particularly in oil and gas.”

The rollout for Blue Vu is set to focus on Industrial SkyWorks customers in the short term, but will expand beyond that base very soon. Stay tuned for an announcement around a series of webinars that will showcase further information about Blue Vu and how it can impact the approach for inspection and oil & gas professionals.