UAV Infrastructure Inspection: How AI Detects Defects in Utilities and Wind Turbines
UAV infrastructure inspection has become a critical component of modern asset management, allowing organizations to detect defects in power lines, wind turbines, solar farms, bridges, and industrial facilities without exposing workers to danger. AI enhances this process by automatically identifying issues such as corrosion, cracks, vegetation encroachment, misalignments, and structural wear. This article explains how AI-driven UAV inspection works, the image-analysis techniques used to detect defects, and the unique challenges presented by high-altitude aerial imagery. It also details the annotation standards, dataset diversity, and quality assurance required to build reliable defect-detection systems capable of supporting utilities, wind-energy operators, and infrastructure managers across varying terrains and environmental conditions.
