Flyability, the market leader in confined space drone inspections, has announced a new partnership with WinCan, the global leader of smart sewer inspection software. This collaboration will streamline data management by integrating Flyability’s Elios 3 drone with WinCan’s Web solution, enabling the conversion of drone-captured sewer data directly to industry standard-compliant reports.
According to Patrick Thévoz, Flyability CEO and co-founder, 'Our partnership with WinCan is helping us expand the Elios 3’s offering to sewer inspectors. WinCan fulfills the reporting and analytics needs of this industry, and together, we’re creating an innovative way to perform safer, faster, and cheaper inspections.' This solution allows inspectors to easily analyze all relevant data captured by the drone, browsing assets and inspections on WinCan Web.
WinCan’s Web solution also incorporates AI-powered automatic defect coding, streamlining the categorization of defects or maintenance issues following recognized standards. Thévoz emphasized the added value this brings to the inspection process, as it not only saves time but enhances accuracy.
With Elios 3 drones already adept at conducting confined space visual inspections and providing centimeter-accurate georeferenced mapping, this partnership now allows for comprehensive data analysis from collection to reporting. WinCan supports compatibility with over 30 observation catalogs, ensuring adaptability across various regions and regulatory environments—a feature unmatched by any other sewer inspection software.
Another player making waves in the data-management sector is CGI, which continues to build on its 12-year relationship with the European Space Agency (ESA). This collaboration aims to improve scientific access to Earth observation data transmitted from space. CGI provides engineering and cybersecurity services as part of the Ascend project, led by Serco, which enhances collaborative Earth observation ground segments.
Jaime Reed, vice-president of consulting services at CGI, detailed their focus on environmental monitoring, stating, 'Most weather forecasts are highly dependent on data taken by satellites, which was what I was working on.' This highlights CGI’s pivotal role in controlling satellites and processing the data they supply, utilizing their extensive experience from the aerospace industry.
The collaborative efforts between ESA and CGI are particularly significant as the volume of satellite data has exponentially increased over recent years. Reed noted, 'The amount of data is becoming overwhelming and it is challenging to make the data available to users.'
This overwhelming data reality has led CGI to embrace scalable, cloud-based environments, which enable researchers to access massive datasets without needing to transfer terabytes of files physically. This capability dramatically improves efficiency, enabling scientists to bring their expertise directly to the data—fostering collaboration on numerous levels.
Reed highlighted the potential of collaborative virtual research environments: 'They don’t have to transfer terabytes of files themselves. They bring their algorithms and then they can share their environments within the research environment with other researchers.' Such innovations signify forward-thinking strategies as researchers work alongside peers worldwide to process and analyze this newly available data.
Overall, the partnership between Flyability and WinCan, and CGI’s collaboration with ESA epitomize the continued evolution of space data management and utilization. These advancements not only improve operational efficiencies but also open new data horizons for scientists worldwide.
Both Flyability and WinCan are set to inform the industry through webinars and live demos, showcasing these game-changing innovations on February 11 at 17:00 CET, registration available on the Flyability website.