{"id":24148,"date":"2022-11-28T15:02:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T15:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=24148"},"modified":"2022-11-28T15:02:24","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T15:02:24","slug":"matador-uas-consortium-highlights-drones-for-infrastructure-inspections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/texas\/matador-uas-consortium-highlights-drones-for-infrastructure-inspections\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Matador UAS Consortium Highlights Drones for Infrastructure Inspections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a nation where a good amount of its infrastructure is\nmore than 30 years old, cost-effective and efficient inspections, maintenance,\nand repair of critical infrastructure is becoming more and more necessary.\nMissionGO has performed a series of uncrewed aircraft vehicle (UAV or drone) inspections\non aging and new green energy solutions at Reese Technology Center to showcase\nthe ease, impact, and savings achieved by implementing and deploying this new\ntechnology. The Matador Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Consortium, co-developed\nby Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and 2THEDGE, LLC and supported\nby MissionGO, is an industry &amp; university partnership improving rural\ncommunities through BVLOS UAS Operations, as a larger showcase of uncrewed\naircraft opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/From-VO-to-RPIC-1-edit-3-747x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24150\" width=\"217\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/From-VO-to-RPIC-1-edit-3-747x1024.png 747w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/From-VO-to-RPIC-1-edit-3-219x300.png 219w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/From-VO-to-RPIC-1-edit-3.png 924w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent operation, MissionGO completed a visual\ninspection of wind turbines and solar panels owned by Sandia Labs in\npartnership with the Texas Tech Wind Institute. Visual inspections are critical\nto utility maintenance as they are a thorough review of the entirety of a\nutility unit. They uncover components that are in need of repair or updating,\nsaving money, time, and energy by locating the source rather than replacing the\nentire unit. While the inspections completed were visual and on specific\ninfrastructure, UAVs provide a much wider set of options for gathering data.\nDrones can carry a range of sensors including LiDAR for high profile data\ncollection, methane sniffers for quick leak source detection, multispectral\nsensors for agriculture, thermal cameras for heat detection, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Panhandle of Texas is home to over 11,000 wind turbines\nacross 150 wind farms.&nbsp; It is estimated\nthat at least 5,500 wind turbines are over 50% towards end of life increasing\nthe risk of catastrophic failure. Having multi-spectrum imaging solutions\ncollecting data via UAS platforms can help improve operational efficiency and\nreduce down time of these critical resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe inspection work being showcased here in Texas can be\nreplicated nearly anywhere in the world,\u201d says Chris Corgnati, President of\nMissionGO. \u201cDrones are presenting real and current cost and time savings, not\nto mention the impact of keeping grids online and communities connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the goal of improving the lives of rural communities,\nMissionGO and the Matador UAS Consortium set out to show the value of using\ndrones to conduct various types of inspections. Cost savings on using UAS for\nbridge inspections is estimated at $783 million nationwide. Surveillance and\ninspection times for wind turbines and solar farms could be cut by 30-50% and\nthe time for oil and gas pipelines could be cut by nearly 90% by implementing\nUAVs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The community benefits here almost do not need to be listed\n\u2013 cost savings at a corporate level trickle down to cost savings for the end\nuser; more efficient green energy makes it easier for communities to take\nadvantage of clean sources; and connected communities are safer for residents.\nThe time savings, cost reduction and community benefits are enough to\ndemonstrate the significance UAS could play in this industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a nation where a good amount of its infrastructure is more than 30 years old, cost-effective and efficient inspections, maintenance, and repair of critical infrastructure is becoming more and more necessary. MissionGO has performed a series of uncrewed aircraft vehicle (UAV or drone) inspections on aging and new green energy solutions at Reese Technology [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-texas","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/From-VO-to-RPIC-1-edit2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24151,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24148\/revisions\/24151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}