Skyports, Field in cutting-edge drone infrastructure inspection deal

UK-based Skyports Drone Services is pursuing its international business growth and geographical expansion through a new partnership with Norway’s Field, offering specialized, cutting-edge aerial infrastructure inspection and monitoring activities.

Under the new accord, Skyports will operate drones and onboard aerial tech for highly accurate and immediately actionable infrastructure inspection and other data-gathering work provided to clients by Field (formerly known as KVS Technologies).

The UK and Europe-spanning partnership calls for Skyports to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of Field’s Explorer drones, which have been used by both the company and third party customers for a range of large-scale enterprise inspection, mapping, and other projects. 

By combining their respective navigational, regulatory, and tech specialties, the duo says it can allow customers to make critical decisions faster through UAV data collection and communication techniques that will save inspection time, reduce operational costs, improve safety, and minimize their carbon footprint.

To do so, Skyports will oversee flights of Field’s complete drone, sensor, and software solution during data capturing missions for infrastructure inspection purposes. The integrated system instantly transfers information from the UAV to the cloud, using the highest cyber-security standards. 

The linear flight method employed, meanwhile, not only provides immediate insights collected from the air to experts on the ground, but also completes full data sets faster than most rival drone inspection procedures, while eliminating the dangers of manual assessments.

The partners say current asset survey processes for the rail and utilities sectors continue using labor-intensive, single-sensor drone flights flown in visual line of sight mode, or deploy expensive and polluting helicopters. 

Field’s multi-sensor payload, by contrast, can complete multiple surveys in a single go, under supervision of Skyports Drone Services technicians drawing on the startup’s long experience using its BVLOS authorizations.

According to Jimmy Bostrøm, head of emerging markets at Oslo-based Field, the company’s tech combined with Skyports’ drone operating abilities will enable up to 100 km of linear infrastructure surveys to be carried out in a single day.

“Field’s complete BVLOS ecosystem has been tested thoroughly, undergoing more than 6,500 flight hours under the world’s harshest conditions, from subzero arctic temperatures to extreme desert winds and heat,” said Bostrøm,. “It’s a robust and complete linear inspection solution. There is no other solution like it on the market.”