Until recently the use of long endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was limited to military applications because of high costs and lack of legislation covering their deployment by civilian organisations. The past eight years has seen explosive growth in the non-military UAV applications, which has driven down costs and forced national aviation authorities to catch-up with legislation.

UAVs are now emerging as a safe, economic and effective alternative to manned flights especially in the Oil & Gas industry where they are being deployed for pipeline monitoring as well as security and other tasks. Multi-role UAV systems are now in the justifiable reaches of many corporations, especially O&G projects in remote or hostile environments.

Sensors and telemetry have also improved and the range of sensors available on a single aircraft can include high-definition video, infrared and environmental sensors. Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) – a device that detects infrared radiation – is a most popular sensor as it can detect oil spills and human intruders even in adverse weathers conditions and darkness.

UAV are almost unlimited in application in both onshore and offshore scenarios. Security, especially pipleine and environmental monitoring, incident response, security patrols and Search and Rescue (SAR) are just a few examples of the more common applications.

WHA can help potential UAV users identify and justify their UAV requirements and assist them through the acquisition process. Our assistance can include:

• Definition of User Requirements.
• Development of Business Case for investment.
• UAV Risk Assessment specific to the proposed working environment.
• Development of tender documents for capability acquisition.
• Assessment of potential suppliers.

The advantages of UAVs over conventional manned flights are principally reduced costs and HSE exposure, compared to manned flights. Also, the turnaround time for survey tasks can be dramatically reduced when the task does not have to be outsourced.

For more information about how WHA can assist you to aquire a UAV capability please contact us.