The use of drones in underground spaces is increasingly offering competitive advantages over traditional solutions for the early detection of damage, surveillance, and monitoring of the condition of urban sewer networks and collectors. The Castelló City Council and Facsa, in collaboration with Hovering Solutions, have successfully completed a Proof of Concept (PoC) involving the inspection of a municipal wastewater collector managed by Facsa as part of its contract to maintain the Castelló sewer network.
The drone successfully and autonomously surveyed a section of the Vallás sewer line along Camí Fondo, between the fairgrounds and markets and the roundabout near the City of Justice in Castelló, creating a 3D map of the route. This type of operation allows for greater monitoring of the sewer line's condition, enabling analysis of its state and the identification of any necessary repairs, while also eliminating the risks that such inspections entail for the crew.
This action is part of the city council's and Facsa's commitment to open innovation and the application of the latest technological developments to the integrated water cycle management. The technology used facilitates the safe, simple, and efficient detection of various discontinuities. It also allows for a more precise understanding of the system's condition and expedites appropriate action regarding any potential network defects.
These drones are capable of navigating the sections to be studied without a pilot or GPS signal, avoiding any obstacles in their path. They are equipped with cameras that record images of the route. Furthermore, they generate a 3D digital twin, providing a visual and georeferenced view of the site and allowing for the precise location of each point under study.
Hovering Solutions' technological proposal is of great value to the development and research objectives for the modernization of the sewerage system and, in general, the integral water cycle, resulting in a tangible improvement for society, a commitment of the Castelló City Council and Facsa.
Drones for inaccessible or dangerous spaces
Hovering Solutions, for its part, is a company that develops value-added solutions in the highly complex field of inspecting hard-to-reach areas. Since its founding in 2016, they have been working to develop small, autonomous drones capable of independently navigating sections of enclosed spaces, such as confined areas, sometimes inaccessible or potentially dangerous, where no signal reaches, making communication with the outside world impossible.
