Augmenting Your Current Team with Drones

Augmenting Your Current Team with Drones
by Pat Lien

As telecom and tower organizations step up their efforts to expand their networks and meet customer expectations, they’re running into an obstacle that other industries are facing as well – labor shortages.

Industry leaders are conscious of the issue, as it was a hot topic at the Wireless West Conference in April and the Connect (X) event in May, but many are still grappling to find ways to combat the shortage of skilled tower climbers. A lack of crew means that inspection and mapping progress has to be stalled, interfering with timelines and exasperating business costs.

Fortunately, advancements in technology are able to offer unique solutions towards filling that gap, without having to replace existing crew members. Instead, drones and AI driven analytics can bolster your team and allow them to be even more efficient and cost effective than before.

Drone and camera technology continues to improve with higher-resolution imagery at a lower cost than was previously available. The sharper image yields better data for the advanced analytics that ultimately provide engineering grade data and actionable reports.

Drone-captured data can be analyzed and automatically populate a variety of different reports, such as mount mapping, digital twin and cell tower inspections, appurtenance reports, and more. These AI-driven analytics automatically extract precise measurement data on tower and antenna mount structures to generate standard reports that an engineer can review in less than 30 minutes. Advanced analytics and element recognition deliver detailed inspection and precise dimensions previously only captured by manual measurement by crews on the tower.

Automated drone flights actually require far less time on site than a tower crew. A single drone pilot can fly five to six sites in a day, compared to only or two visits for a tower crew consisting of two or three technicians. Not only does this save on manpower, but automated flight plans also simplify the drone flight, and yield consistent data capture.

Technology like this saves having to perform multiple visits and removes the tedious task of building out reports for engineering and structural analysis. Instead, your teams can save on both desk and travel time, giving them the ability to accomplish more valuable work and bring in more revenue.

Providers, like Pointivo, know how to make the measurement data clear and concise. We can quickly refine and present the AI-driven analytics in digestible reporting that can be used for actionable drone data analysis.

The data offers a better workflow for organizations, as engineers can focus on the engineering and construction design of their projects, rather than having time consumed with data collection and review. Providers and their drones take that step of the process out for them, enabling your teams to maximize their utilization and scale.

Pointivo is an industry-leading provider that offers a range of solutions that accelerate workflows and scale your business. Leveraging digitization through drone captured data and AI-powered analytics is quickly becoming the standard methodology for streamlining telecom engineering, speeding construction and proactive tower management. Request a demo or reach out to us today to see how supplementing your team with drone automation will impact your business.