Aerial Thermography of Industrial Assets

Thermography may be able to cross the line of reasonable expectations that the character of an industrial (process or manufacturing) asset may be not be remotely sensed.

Those "reasonable expectations" are actually a relatively recent development in legal philosophy, but no less potent than other developing tort or criminal concerns related to emerging technology. For that reason-and simply because we get along with the other kids-RedLens does not involve itself in imaging assignments that could reasonably be interpreted as industrial espionage. Distinguishing between simple "intelligence gathering" and espionage is an area that we can offer no substantial competency in, so we are generally confining ourselves to imaging for the owners or agents of the owners of specific assets or bona fide legal authority.

It is true that industrial behavior produces a myriad of thermal signatures and that those signatures are useful for diagnosing production inefficiencies, violations, and other potentials. Thermography-particularly aerial thermography-lends a very innovative expansion to the concept of MBWA ("Management by Wandering Around"): thermography can sense many, many things that visual, tactile, and auditory monitoring cannot-so many so that you can literally stumble across them simply by being present with thermographic capacity. This has been our experience especially with roofing and electrical system assays.

Thus, in spite of the legal peril that indiscriminate remote sensing may produce, it's value in intelligently directed applications is staggering and worth demonstrating. It is also prudent to consider other legal issues such as infliction of emotional distress, disturbing peace, trespass, and the Federal Aviation Regulations when performing aerial remote sensing. This places a premium value on experienced aerial practitioners over someone who is simply able to squeeze a thermographic camera into a cockpit and get airborne.

The following image illustrates the easy of determining tank levels of industrial and manufacturing process materials using aerial thermography.

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