Asset Inspection & Testing

Application

What is autonomous asset inspection?

Regular inspections secure availability and safety of assets: pipelines, substations, data centres, power plants, water works, chemical plants. Classically this means: staff walk rounds, check visual findings, take readings, document manually. The effort is high, regularity is often mediocre, and risky or remote areas are inspected less often than needed.

Autonomous inspection platforms change that ratio: the same vehicle drives the same route every night, captures thermal images, gas leaks, camera footage and documents — reproducibly, logged and with historical comparison. People are relieved, and rare colleagues (thermal-camera technicians) are freed up for analysis instead of capturing images themselves.

Typical application areas

• Substations and grid nodes — thermography of transformers, switchgear and cable terminations. Detection of hotspots before failure.
• Chemical plants and refineries — gas detection, leak search, Ex-zone monitoring.
• Data centres — server rack temperature, coolant circuits, access control.
• Power plants — turbine area, pipelines, cooling circuits. Also in hard-to-reach or hot areas.
• Wastewater and water works — pump monitoring, basin temperatures, process monitoring.

The NEXOS configuration

• PALLAS platform as the base — size to suit terrain and route (PALLAS.75 for indoor areas, larger variants for open sites).
• Sensor payload modules — depending on the application: thermal camera, gas detector cluster, LiDAR, ultrasonic wall-thickness tester.
• Autonomous driving on defined routes with waypoint navigation. Routes are recorded once and then autonomously repeated.
• NEXOS.DSP as the back end — image and sensor data are logged, compared against history, and AI-checked for anomalies.
• Alerting on anomalies — email, push notification, integration with existing control rooms (SCADA connection possible).

Why it pays off

• Regularity — inspection that actually runs at night rather than just being planned.
• Trend analysis — comparison with historical footage shows creeping changes (heat build-up, deformation, contamination) at an early stage.
• Staff relief — a technician reviews anomalies on the screen instead of walking every round in person.
• Evidence — fully documented for insurance, regulation and internal compliance.

Limits and challenges

• Weather and environment — under extreme weather (heavy rain, high snow load), sensor quality is reduced. Autonomous mode can pause under unsuitable conditions.
• Sensor calibration — thermography and gas detectors in particular must be calibrated regularly. Include the maintenance interval in the operating plan.
• Data volumes — continuous captures generate a lot of video and sensor data. The storage and transmission strategy is part of the system planning.
• Access and physical security — data centres and KRITIS sites have their own access and data-protection rules that must be observed in the project.