Telecommunications

Drone aerial inspections of cell towers have increased in recent years, presenting both challenges and opportunities for the communication industry. 

Due to the aging of assets and the growth of the industry, tower owners will need to inspect their assets more frequently. By inspecting towers on a regular basis, tower owners can avoid minor maintenance issues turning into expensive problems in the future. In addition to assessing tower conditions prior to a purchase or transaction, inspections are also necessary for new builds, retrofits, and colocations. 

The Value Of Cell Tower Inspections Cannot Be Overstated 

With over  1,400,000 cell towers at last crowed sourced survey of which around 61% have since been updated for new technologies, in addition 5G earmarked to boost signals on other structures including street lights, bus shelters and traffic lights to name a few. Zoarizon now have the opportunity to inspect not only the wireless company’s towers, but also leased spaces for other clients cutting costs for all stakeholders of the site. 

Various types of cell towers exist, each with its own methodology and level of complexity. 

Below are some of the most common: 

Self Support Tower 

In comparison with other types of telecom towers, lattice-type structures offer the most flexibility. In addition to supporting the heaviest load, these can withstand strong winds and adverse weather conditions. 

Lattice Tower 

The steel lattice base is rectangular or triangular and freestanding. Antenna dishes or panels can be mounted on these types of structures in large quantities. 

Guyed Tower 

A slender steel structure supported on the ground by braided or stranded guy cables. With their maximum strength and relatively easy installation, these towers are efficient and versatile. 

Monopole Tower 

Because of the low cost and speed of installation, single-pole installations with tubular or tapered poles are the most popular. 

Camouflage Tower 

In order to blend in and reduce visual impact in the community, may appear as an artificial pine tree, palm tree, clock tower, or even an artificial cactus. 

Inspections 

Cell tower inspections come in many forms. It is possible to enhance the value of the standard visual inspection by combining it with the following additional services: 

·       Asset / 3D Modelling 

·       Ortho Photogrammetry 

·       RF Inspections 

·       LiDAR 

·       Hardware inspection – Visual / Thermal 

·       Preconstruction / Construction / Sign-Off 

By providing the tower owners with inspection data and analytics of the highest quality, Zoarisons services can be an essential and valuable extension of the wireless carrier. 

It has historically been necessary to transport heavy equipment to the tower location in order to carry out cell tower inspections .Additionally, the physical climbing of the structure posed a real safety concern.  

For the inspection to be completed, it was not only necessary to have qualified technical skills (they needed to understand structural integrity and cellular components) but also a team of climbers with experience.  

Since the introduction of UAVs cell tower inspections have since moved on eliminating most of these challenges.