Optelos’ Post

This is kind of a big deal… identification and measurement of delamination on a concrete structures 😳 the holy grail of visual inspections is more feasible than ever thanks to the combination of technology found on the new Skydio X10. Take a look at the easily identifiable thermal signatures representing the otherwise invisible extent of delamination, it’s basically x-ray vision. The thermal video on the bottom is represented in the “whitehot” pallet and makes it possible for the inspector to quickly detect and hone in on these high priority areas for a closer look with ease thanks to autonomous obstacle avoidance. The fundamental concept of using #thermal sensors for this purpose is not new and is fairly straightforward. The laminating shard of concrete developes large surface area due to the air pocket forming behind it. This will cause its temperature to converge towards the ambient air temperature, this is not the case for the intact concrete which due to its mass cannot thermally load from ambient air at the same rate. As a small temperature delta begins to form between the delamination and rest of the structure, a very sensitive thermal sensor such as the Boson+ can detect it almost right away. When I first saw the quality of this sensor on X10 my mind instantly when to this case, my jaw dropped as soon as I started, it did not disappoint. Environmental conditions still mater here. In research papers and case studies I’ve come across, this was best reproduced in overcast conditions with high ambient temperatures. Due the limitations of drone flight in GPS denied environments this has mostly been applied to bridge decks. The beauty is that these environmental conditions commonly exist underneath the bridge on most summer days, and we finally have a way to fly in there and capture data from an optimal angle and distance while carrying high performance thermal and RGB in the same package. Thrown on powerful onboard lighting with NightSense and you have exceptional safety in an otherwise extremely drone-hostile enviroment. Late summer mornings are the sweet spot for these flights. The delamination has time to thermally load to ambient temperature. Winds are calm, keeping the shards thermal load high enough to maintain delta T. You’ll also want to work on the shaded side first as any direct sunlight will equalize surface temperatures making the effect less pronounced. Once you’re up flying the rest is just search and destroy 👀 This also opens up an exciting opportunity for AI damage detection thanks to this additional depth in data (quite literally). Im excited to see what’s possible do when I apply X10s 3D Scan capabilities and use #photogrammetry to generate hybrid RGB and IR model, then feed it into an AI detection and segmentation pipeline for the ultimate deliverable 🤓 Interested to know if others here have had similar experiences with IR based delamination hunting?