Fixed-wing drone for pipeline monitoring

By Charles Pauka on 26 November, 2019

Team Terra Drone Indonesia with officials from Medco Energi and C-Astral Bramor C4EYE UAS.

Terra Drone Indonesia, a group company of Japan-based Terra Drone Corporation, has conducted a demonstration to showcase the advantages of UAV-based pipeline monitoring to Indonesian oil and gas group Medco Energi Internasional Tbk PT. The demo was conducted in Purwakarta, West Java, using a Terra BRAMOR C4EYE UAS, manufactured by Terra Drone group company C-Astral.

Armed with 12 years of drone manufacturing experience, Slovenia-based C-Astral has designed and developed the fixed-wing Terra BRAMOR C4EYE specifically for high-endurance surveillance, monitoring, security patrol, surveying and remote sensing activities. During the demo for Medco Energi, Terra Drone Indonesia focused on how Terra BRAMOR C4EYE can directly monitor activities through real-time video and photos to shoot certain objects with very clear results. In addition, the drone can also easily identify anomalous objects that move in the area being monitored. Terra BRAMOR C4EYE is already being used by several security companies to monitor theft activity on pipelines.

An object identified by live video shot by Bramor C4EYE above a height of 150 metres.

Drones have emerged as a go-to technology for oil and gas companies looking to overcome various obstacles in monitoring and patrol activities. Since oil and gas pipelines are very long and located in areas that are very difficult for workers to reach directly such as dense forests, swamps, and dangerous-to-access conflict zones, unmanned aerial systems are the perfect solution.

“Terra BRAMOR C4EYE can fly for up to 3.5 hours, is powered by an electric battery, and is equipped with a multi-sensor camera consisting of a high-resolution visual camera sensor with up to 40x zoom capability, and a thermal camera to detect objects’ temperature or during night operations. The drone is apt to be used for surveillance and security purposes,” said managing director of Terra Drone Indonesia Michael Wishnu Wardana.