There are a number of reasons that may result in cracks and failures on water pipelines from internal and external causes, including physical damage, corrosion, water pressure, etc. Those pipeline failures not only will result in loss of freshwater but also cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate the pipelines. Hence, crack inspection and regular maintenance of water pipelines is imperative and is a requirement for proper water supply and distribution.

Inspecting pipelines is essential but also challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. The main challenge is always the need to inspect large distribution areas and varying terrain these pipelines often pass through. Traditional methods for crack detection and pipelines monitoring are often labour- and cost-intensive. Human inspection is also limited when the area cannot be reached easily by people.

Therefore, an increasing number of companies begin to explore using drones for inspection as they address the above maintenance operational challenges faced by human inspections.

Drones Facilitate Pipelines Monitoring and Crack Detection

It was found that water leaking from pipes is often a different temperature to the ground around it. Anavision is dedicated to unleashing the power of aerial photogrammetry by combining AI technology, aiming to offer solutions to our clients for smarter management and operations.

We equipped the drone with a high-resolution thermal camera, which is able to detect the slight temperature difference between a pool of escaped water and the ground, crack detection can be done automatically. By using drones to perform regular patrolling duties, aerial imagery can be captured, we can monitor water pipelines more effectively and efficiently. Leaks can be caught early to greatly save the remediation costs before the crack becomes large with more impactful freshwater leakage.

Pipeline cracks detection — Figure 1: Pipeline cracks inspection by capturing thermal aerial imagery

Using inspection drones are able to detect and identify cracks, corrosion, leak, as well as do land surveys more easily. It has diverse applications and potentials such as automated surveillance, optimized workflow, real-time data capturing and analysis, and predictive insights generation for minimizing problems and disruptions to water supply operations.