Remote Geotechnical Evaluation of Rights of Way of Hydrocarbon Transmission Lines

Due to the health emergency currently affecting the planet, it has been impossible for engineering specialists to carry out direct inspections of the land. During this time, it has been necessary to develop techniques and procedures that allow engineers to obtain information from the land remotely. Here, they are supported by the technology that allows them to record images remotely via drones and communicate so they can perform inspections by auxiliary field personnel, directed at a distance by specialists. To do this, a preliminary flight plan is defined, based on the experience and knowledge of the terrain by the specialist and the visual of the drone is transmitted via the Internet from a PC in the field. Later, which images to record and the sites that require more detail or a direct inspection by the field assistant are defined. Finally, the field assistant transmits the images of the inspection. In this way, the specialist’s training and experience, the operational ease of the drone, and the skill of the field staff are taken advantage of. This article details the procedure for remote inspection, and ways in which it can even be extended to corridor recognition tasks to define the layout of rights of way.