PrecisionHawk Creates Cell Tower Drone Inspection Solution

By Mike Ball / 21 Feb 2021
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PrecisionHawk drone cell tower inspection

PrecisionHawk has partnered with American Tower to create a wireless infrastructure inspection solution that combines unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with AI-powered analytics. The all-in-one solution includes autonomous drones, 3D mapping, and analysis software, and will be used by American Tower to inspect its more than 41,000 wireless communications tower facilities in the United States, with potential to expand to its more than 183,000 sites worldwide.

The comprehensive solution provides improved inspection accuracy, efficiency, and safety, delivering a previously unattainable volume and quality of tower data. With robust and up-to-date information on its assets, American Tower is able to conduct detailed equipment analyses, enabling proactive maintenance, inventory reconciliation, and precise servicing.

American Tower originally decided to partner with PrecisionHawk as a key part of its company-wide digital transformation, and has completed thousands of inspections in the past few years. PrecisionHawk has created an end-to-end solution tailored to the wireless communications infrastructure industry, including PrecisionFlight Tower, an autonomous drone flight application, and PrecisionAnalytics Tower, a web-based 3D analysis and modelling tool for towers.

Eric Dudek, Vice President of Network Operations at American Tower, commented: “Safety and efficiency are paramount for tower inspections, and PrecisionHawk provides the only true end-to-end solution that combines a deep understanding of our needs with the ability to deliver unparalleled data. With this alliance, we are introducing a superior method of inspection that we believe will become the industry standard and revolutionize our customers’ experience, leading to faster deployment of new wireless technologies.”

Patrick Lohman, PrecisionHawk’s Vice President of Telecommunications & Energy Solutions, said: “We’re proud to partner with industry leader American Tower to launch PrecisionFlight Tower and PrecisionAnalytics Tower. Drawing on American Tower’s expertise, our solution was developed to meet the comprehensive needs of the wireless communications industry by enriching asset inventory and inspection data. In turn, this data empowers both facility owners and carriers to improve the reliability of their networks and meet their increasing demands for connectivity.”

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Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact