Eye in the distant sky: improving security at remote industrial facilities
For many industries, it’s easy enough for serious incidents to occur while a significant number of people are present and generally working to prevent those incidents. This is the perilous reality facing industries like oil and gas, mining and critical infrastructure. Factor in an unmanned or partially unmanned facility at a remote site, and the amount of damage that could be done by a security event or equipment malfunction before it’s even noticed is absolutely immense.
Security technology at remote industrial facilities is a complicated thing because while it’s obviously essential it still needs to be cost-efficient and it needs to have both detection and response capabilities. Luckily there is a solution built to check all those boxes, and it’s automated drones.
New heights in security
Since they first hit the industrial market, security drones have been filling in the gaps of traditional security systems by capturing and transmitting unlimited aerial data in real-time, maneuvering into areas CCTV systems can’t reach, tracking intruders and entering situations that would be too dangerous for security personnel in order to provide awareness essential for safe and effective response.
Today’s leading security drones do all of that and additionally offer next-gen capabilities for both routine security and surveillance and emergency response thanks to a range of intuitive software, powerful data processing capabilities, and sensors that can be automatically swapped to create a true industrial multi- tool. These next-gen capabilities include automated data processing for threat assessment, automated threat detection and monitoring, thermal sensing, and emissions sensing.
Automated drones for security are the ideal solution for remote or unmanned sites because they provide always available monitoring with real-time automated threat detection as well as the ability to complete thorough and precise routine surveillance sweeps or equipment checks. Providing as much information as possible with as much immediacy as possible, this is the level of security that could be accomplished by having a security team on-site…without requiring a security team on-site.
The advantage of automation
An automated industrial drone is one that requires no human intervention for the entire flight process including launching and landing, basic maintenance including the changing of batteries and sensors, or data collection and processing.
With no pilot necessary, organizations don’t have to deal with the significant expense of having a drone pilot either employed full-time or on-call to launch and fly in case of emergency or a suspected incident at a remote site. Drone response to an emergency or suspected incident can also be immediate, with no delays incurred waiting for a pilot in what could be a life or death situation or one that has the potential for dire consequences. The possibility of human error is also eliminated – a significant benefit as security events are often high-stress situations that could potentially impact pilot performance.
A single solution for a range of issues
All in all, automated drones for security at unmanned or remote industrial sites are reliable, responsive, offer unparalleled visual awareness into the site as a whole or any specific area, can be used for scheduled surveillance or sweeps or deployed at a moment’s notice to respond to a suspected incident.
They can also be equipped with sensors capable of detecting intruders, and can follow intruders to collect additional information and make them aware they have been detected. Further, they can do all of this in a cost-efficient manner and with immediacy when necessary because they do not need human pilots. Security needs in unmanned, partially manned or remote industrial sites might be complex, but with automated industrial drones, the solution doesn’t need to be.
Photo by Josh Sorenson on pexels.com
