Drones for Communication Installations Inspection
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Companies have been using drones for a variety of purposes, including the inspection of industrial and civil infrastructure. Drones carry out missions such as inspection and monitoring of energy installations, transportation systems and traffic routes, communication and power networks etc.
A new national drone program launched by AT&T is designated for carrying out aerial inspections of the company’s cell towers, implementing changes in real time and ultimately increasing the power of its network. The company is demonstrating this drones’ capability at the SHAPE Conference in San Francisco, which started on July 15.
According to TechTimes, with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at hand, the company will not only improve the efficiency and speed of its procedures but also increase safety of its technicians, allowing access to parts of a tower that a human simply could not.
AT&T also plans to use the drones to deliver LTE coverage in crowded areas, within the framework of Flying Cell on Wings (COWs). A Flying COW may be able to provide coverage when a vehicle is unable to drive to a designated area.
The project has the potential to bring internet access to remote locations that do not have the necessary equipment to do so. What’s more, the UAVs will be useful in providing aid in disaster-stricken places, as they will let survivors go online and contact friends and family more quickly. While still not implemented at this point, the initiative stands to help practically everyone.
The AT&T Innovation Blog says that the program team brings decades of military, flight control and tech experience to the job. The team is also researching how in-flight drones can use the company’s LTE network to send large amounts of data in real-time. This capability may benefit areas such as insurance, farming, facility and asset inspections, and even delivery service companies.
AT&T isn’t the first company to take advantage of UAVs to provide access to the internet in various locations, as Google and Facebook are also tinkering with the technology.
