Using unmanned UAV’s to provide Beyond Visual Line Of Sight, or BVLOS inspections, allows for customers to access safe and reliable data about many industrial assets.
Having the option to use BVLOS to complete inspections and surveys make the whole process far cheaper and more efficient than traditional survey methods.
In areas that are hard to access, the choice is either invest heavily in construction of roads and buildings to allow for a ground team to complete the survey. But with the onset of UAV technology like that being developed by Lockheed Martin, this can be prevented, saving time and money.
There are also environmental consideration that must be accounted for. For example, if a corporation needs to survey some portion of the Alaskan wilderness for an oil pipeline, they must invest heavily in infrastructure designed for a cold climate, such as winter roads.
Construction work of this magnitude can be immensely damaging to the surrounding wildlife. With a BVLOS survey, this can be avoided easily. Another issue is that traditional survey methods, such as a ground team or low flying helicopters can scare away wildlife, which is often counterproductive given that many wildlife surveys are carried out in remote, inaccessible areas.