5G as catalyst for industrial inspections with drones

Orange Belgium worked with SkyeBase to develop a proof-of-concept where drones inspect industrial infrastructure in a safe, efficient and high-quality manner. The project uses Orange Belgium's leading 5G network and received support from the Federal Public Service Economy to accelerate the rollout of 5G in Belgium. A live demonstration of an inspection flight 'powered by 5G' was given at the port of Antwerp.

The challenge Industrial companies located in port areas need better insights for preventive maintenance of their critical infrastructure (cranes, buildings, tanks, high-voltage lines, etc.) and are looking for inspection tools that are safer, higher quality and more cost-efficient. Frequent inspections and timely maintenance are essential to keep infrastructure running. Unforeseen breakdowns drive up costs due to longer downtime, the need for additional maintenance and unsafe working environments.

SkyeBase, based in the port of Antwerp, deploys drones, robots, platform technology and artificial intelligence for industrial inspections in hard-to-reach places where normal inspection methods do not offer a solution. With ‘I-Spect’, the Antwerp-based scale-up developed a software platform where customers automate, analyse, visualise priorities and take actions to inspect their assets. By engaging with Orange Belgium, it became clear that these inspections can be faster, safer and more efficient thanks to 5G.

The solution Orange, which rolled out Belgium's first 5G standalone campus network in the port of Antwerp, together with SkyeBase, submitted a grant dossier to the federal government for a proof-of-concept of industrial drone inspections over 5G in 2023. After a series of technical tests, a live demonstration of an inspection flight was conducted on the Orange network at the port. This demonstrated how 5G technology provides the crucial link between the drone, the command vehicle, the competence centre, data analysis tools and the I-Spect platform.

5G enables live streaming, real-time AI-guided defect detection and stable, fast and secure data transfer of inspection images. Those images, often more than 150 GB per flight, are sent directly to the cloud and stored, allowing inspectors to prepare their report faster. The live stream also allows them to watch remotely and share their knowledge securely. In addition, the 5G standalone network ensures guaranteed bandwidth, which is important for the reliability of the connection. Finally, the expert gets to see the images without delay, which is especially important the moment an incident occurs to critical infrastructure in the port and petrochemical industry.

Bart Daniëls, COO SkyeBase: “Thanks to Orange's 5G technology, we stream inspection data directly to our data analysts, allowing reports to be produced faster and therefore the client to access this information faster. Experts dial in remotely during an inspection, ensuring the right expertise is always at the right inspection site. This is an absolute added value for speed of operation and ultimately benefits our customers.”

Werner De Laet, Chief Enterprise Officer at Orange Belgium: “This use case that we developed and customised for SkyeBase is a perfect example of how Orange 5G standalone technology becomes a catalyst in mission-critical environments. Thanks to our multigigabit network and 5G expertise, the speed, security and efficiency of inspection tools is significantly increased. Moreover, because 5G is a scalable technology, the architecture now developed as a proof-of-concept will be able to grow with the company.”