Overview
Accurate 3D tower models and comprehensive digital infrastructure documentation empower tower owners to conduct remote assessments of their tower infrastructure. These digital resources streamline issue identification and help to optimize network coverage, assess structural integrity, and strategically deploy additional equipment and services.
After a storm in South Florida, an engineering firm responsible for inspections of a cell tower asset portfolio wanted to quickly examine all towers in the affected area for damage, but deploying multiple people to each site and climbing the towers would be costly and time-intensive. Inspecting a single tower often entails a full day of work for two to three people, not including the post-visit analysis. Additionally, certain towers were suspected to be unsafe to climb. A high precision 3D scan and analysis of the tower, like what Anvil Labs provides, addresses these issues and more. This client has been wanting to streamline their inspection and maintenance workflows with drones and automation, and this storm provided the grounds for a pilot program for the client to assess our solution against their standards.
The pilot inspection involved conducting an urgent inspection and routine inspection simultaneously to take inventory of the tower components, check antenna leasing space compliance, and provide maintenance insights. On completion of the pilot, the system could be scaled across their portfolio.
Outcomes
- Accuracy matching climbing crew standards: Our client was pleased that our mm-accurate drone inspection process met their standards and the digital twin gave them a digital sandbox to test and process future operations planning. The pilot was a success and the program is ready to apply to the rest of the portfolio.
- Comprehensive understanding of tower health: Our solution provided a detailed analysis of 12 antennas, a full tower mapping, structural analysis, inventorization, and a defect report providing insights on the changes inflicted by the storm. The client was able to deliver this information to the engineering company that hired them to take care of the necessary improvements within one day of the storm.
- Informed Decision-Making: By employing our AI/ML capabilities, we delivered actionable insights and updates to our client in under a day versus over a week with traditional methods.
- Day-of Response Time: Being able to quickly deploy our network of drone operators enabled us to be on-site within a day rather than waiting on scheduling.
- Historical Data Collected for Future Comparison: The inspected asset now has a digital twin. This is building a data set within our platform to conduct trend analysis to point out developing issues. In the future, our client will be able to make improvement decisions based on contextual problem development visualized through the digital twins.
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