Aerial inspections can bring time savings of up to 50%

Joe Sullivan is a young serial entrepreneur who recently founded Aerial Applications to serve the telecom industry with a state of the art aerial inspection software. Unimaginable just a few years ago, drone-based inspections are now a reality and in this interview, Joe discussed with TowerXchange this exciting technology, its current use, and what the future might hold for those embracing it.

TowerXchange: Please tell us about your background and the creation of Aerial Applications.

Aerial Applications was created two years ago. Prior to this I was one of the founders of OfferBoard, a private placement platform for emerging companies which was then acquired by Entoro Group.

Aerial Applications offers an innovative software-based solution for telecom players to capture, process, analyse, and socialise data, using drones. Our clients include telecom giants like Comcast. Since our inception, we’ve also started talking with various tower companies in the U.S. and we are now seeing lots of interest in our solution.

While our focus currently is on the U.S. market, we are also looking abroad and are in talks with potential customers in both Asia and Africa.

In creating Aerial Applications with my co-founders, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside some extremely bright and talented individuals. I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of such a great team! Our CTO, Nathan Sullivan, was an award-winning developer recognised as one of the top performers at Intel, for example.

TowerXchange: So Aerial Applications is a software company, right?

Yes, we’re a software company. Our customers buy the license to use our cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service and additionally receive from us full support on how to get started with drones.

I think drones are one of those tools yet to be fully understood by the industry and it’s very important that we offer customer service throughout to ensure carriers and towercos buy the right drones and comply with the various existing policies and procedures.

TowerXchange: Once installed, how does Aerial Applications work?

Maintenance crews can perform inspections utilising drones without the need to climb towers, which is a great plus when it comes to reducing H&S risks. We’ve created a flight automation app that will be released at the end of December 2017 that allows users to create pre-set patterns for the drone, complete with a perfect flight control system. So the drone doesn’t actually need to be guided anywhere, and instead the team can watch as the inspection is performed using their phone or tablet.

A key aspect of our software is that while the drone is up in the air, it takes hundreds of photos of the tower from different angles. These photos then get sent to our cloud, where we generate an extremely accurate 3D model of the tower that engineers can manipulate or download then upload into their engineering software (e.g. AutoCAD). With the right equipment, our customers have been able to construct models that are so realistic, they are able to take measurements that are accurate within centimetres.

So the added value is not only in the speed of the inspection and reduced risks but also on the creation of a system of record of a tower portfolio that is extremely accurate and increasingly valuable to our customers over time.

Right now we are working with some of our customers on a new feature that utilises artificial intelligence (AI) for visual recognition and object classification. It will be released towards the end of Q1 2018. Once operational, it will allow our customers to track the number of antennas on a tower and the type of equipment installed. We are very excited about this tool that will considerably enhance that system of record I referred to previously.

AI is going to be huge for our customers, and we’re excited to help them adopt it through our software. We’re realising that feature in Q1 of 2018, but we know that’s just the beginning. We know it will make a big difference in their operations, and we’re aiming to be the market leader in that space.

TowerXchange: What are some of the advantages of opting for aerial inspection tools?

I see Aerial Applications as a spellchecker that the inspection crew can use. We are automating an important piece that considerably relieves the cognitive burden on inspection professionals, by allowing them to focus on the key aspects of the operation, like the structural integrity of the tower, or how many pieces of equipment are on it. Thanks to Aerial Applications, inspections are getting done faster and nothing gets missed.

To give you a practical example, recently we went on a site visit with a customer who realised that some space on a tower was still occupied by equipment of two other operators who had gone out of business.

In terms of savings, our existing customers are reporting time saving up to 50% thanks to our solution, and this is an indicator of considerable financial savings, too. A regular tower inspection can be performed in around thirty minutes of flight time.

TowerXchange: What type of regulations do drone users need to be aware of?

We encourage everyone interested in utilising drones to familiarise themselves with their local, state and federal regulations on the matter. In the United States, companies that use drones need to be aware of the applicable rules established by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA establishes that drones must be registered and that drone pilots need to comply with Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations (Part 107). Remote pilots need to maintain visual contact with the drone at all times and drones cannot fly over 400ft nor at night. They cannot fly over people or cars (unless they are part of the inspection crew) nor in no fly zones such as airports or national parks.

For tower inspections, these rules aren’t too restrictive since most towers are located outside major urban areas and on private properties.

To be honest, the major limitations to drone adoption are regulatory, not technological. Certainly, the FAA has done excellent work to incorporate drones safely into the airspace to date, but there is so much more that the technology can accomplish.

In fact, we are now actively researching pre-set flights that go as far as 100km from the take off point. So a drone could fly autonomously into the jungle for example and come back without the need to be followed by a crew. But in the U.S. drone pilots need to visually follow the drone at all time, unless they receive a specific exemption.

TowerXchange: Are we saying that drone inspections could replace inspection crews altogether?

Robotics experts tend to be very hyperbolic with regards to the impact of aerial technologies on the industry, and while I certainly believe we will see incredible efficiency gains, I don’t believe we will see crews replaced altogether. We are seeing that customers who adopt drone technology use it as an opportunity to improve the quality of their work and speed by as much as 50%. We’re helping teams get the most out of their people, by focusing them on the tasks that really need their human expertise.

TowerXchange: What are some of the most common objections you deal with when discussing with potential customers?

We are finding that often people aren’t really aware of how a drone works. We get asked all sort of questions related to how easy it is to use a drone, whether it is a good investment for a telecom business and if staff can be swiftly trained.

In the case where companies are currently building out their drone program the request we often get is for additional drone pilot training for their internal pilots. To accommodate these requests, we offer support packages that give access to specific learning tools tailored to accelerate their pilots’ training programmes.

Once we are able to explain and show how our technology works, customers quickly realise that an inspection performed in twenty or thirty minutes is priceless!

Another question is whether a carrier’s (or towerco’s) legal department will allow aerial inspections, and I would certainly recommend that a company seeking to implement drone technology get sound legal council. Some companies find that training their existing staff provides them with better oversight and control while other prefer to work with subcontractors for the operation. We can help our customers think through those options, and our software is built to serve information sharing under both models.

I’d also add that some of our customers are initially concerned about the risk of working with new technology, and are reluctant to make even a small investment to see if it could be a fit. It is far riskier to sit on the sidelines while your competitors adopt new technology than to allocate a small research budget to determine if it is a fit for your business.

TowerXchange: What type of customer care does Aerial Applications offer?

We’ve been very proactive in ensuring a high level of after-sale care. I think this is a key opportunity to differentiate ourselves from competitors since there are plenty of companies out there who don’t offer strong customer services.

On top of standard tools such as our call line, FAQs and email support, we also check in with our customers during the first months of adoption to ensure they are satisfied with the product. Additionally, next year we’ll launch a set of virtual trainings that customers can participate in for free as well as paid training sessions that can be booked and organised in their office.