Can Potentially 'See' Things That Humans Might Miss

With the oil industry booming in North Dakota, the petroleum industry is considering how it could use unmanned aircraft to improve pipeline monitoring in the state.

An underground pipeline mishap in July that sent a million gallons of saltwater into the North Dakota Badlands has spurred companies to work to accelerate the use of UAVs for such monitoring.  William Semke, director of the University of North Dakota’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Engineering program, told the Associated Press that more concern about public safety  will lead to a call for increased monitoring standards to help prevent such spills which negatively impact the perception of the industry.

Currently, manned aircraft fly pipeline patrols to look for problems, and some early detection is possible if the pipeline is equipped with fiber-optic monitoring systems. But Semke said that a UAV equipped with thermal and multi-spectral sensors could see things that a human in an airplane might miss. The UAV might even be able to detect particles in the air that could indicate a problem is developing below the ground, he said.

Zach Lamppa, president of Energy Intelligence, said that a program to utilize UAVs to patrol pipelines should appeal to both environmentalists and the petroleum industry. He said he hopes to be able to begin test flights this fall, but he is still waiting for permission from the FAA to begin such flights.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.energyintel.com