Infrastructure Inspection: Power Grid
Triple-sensor inspection replacing helicopter operations
A utility company needed to inspect 200+ miles of high-voltage transmission lines annually. Manual helicopter inspection cost $1,200 per mile with narrow 3-day weather windows. The operator required simultaneous visual, thermal, and UV corona discharge data, which previously required separate flights for each sensor type.
HERA deployed with VianSight (visual + FLIR thermal) and Corona UV camera for detecting electrical discharge. Edge AI detected anomalies in real-time, flagging hot spots and corona discharge points during flight. All data geotagged and delivered as actionable reports immediately post-flight.
Inspection costs reduced by 85% per mile compared to helicopter operations. Coverage speed increased 4× versus traditional methods. Real-time anomaly detection eliminated the post-flight analysis bottleneck, and the annual savings on the 200-mile network reached $240K.
“Running visual, thermal, and UV inspection in a single pass. No other platform at this price point can do that.”