Pipeline Monitoring

Drone Data Acquisition Management

Background

The oil and gas industry suffers from costly regulatory compliance measures. Oil and gas assets stretch far distances over massive amounts of real estate and despite environmental conditions, terrain and other challenging factors, these assets must be monitored on a regular basis by humans in all-terrain vehicles or by costly manned aircraft. Stealth Air Corp. offers the ability to automate the required monitoring process by way of employing precision landing and recharge capabilities. By strategically installing self-powered landing stations, electric unmanned aircraft can perform oil and gas monitoring using remote sensing equipment and autonomously re-charge at scheduled intervals. Unmanned aerial vehicles can carry your required sensor payload without any type of terrain restriction, at scheduled mission intervals and on-demand.

Benefits

Allows for regulatory compliance without the need for humans and human-driven vehicles

Increases the frequency of monitoring and reporting of events (i.e. methane leak event)

Removes the requirement for on-site, in-field data collection and replaces it with the convenience of remote reporting

Clear ROI based on known operational costs and scheduled reporting timelines

Industry Statistics

According to U.S. DOT, the global oil and gas industry spends $37 billion US dollars a year monitoring more than 6 million miles (9,656,064 km) of pipelines in the United States

2,175,000 miles (3,500,000 km) of total pipeline exists in 120 countries of the world

There are about 9,000 independent oil and natural gas producers in the United States

Federal government mandates in the USA and abroad require ongoing pipeline monitoring

Environmental Impact

Ongoing pipeline monitoring operations generally require gasoline-powered vehicles which contribute to atmospheric pollution. The use of electric-powered UAVs virtually eliminates these emissions.

Stealth UAVs are autonomously recharged via proprietary landing pad technology. Landing pads are solar-powered and self-sustaining, thus eliminating a carbon footprint.

Pipeline monitoring is required, in part, to identify environmental pollution caused by leaking or damaged equipment. Through an ongoing monitoring program, unmanned aerial vehicles can provide early detection of such issues.