Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/906742
Send in the drones • Inspecting sewage networks involves working in unhealthy conditions in a confined and dangerous environment. The ARSI project aims to change that – by using drones! T hink of Barcelona, and its legendary football team as well as its rich architectural, historical and surrealist heritage will surely spring to mind. What lies beneath the city's streets, however, could be described as a mystery – until now. That is if FCC and Eurecat have anything to do with it. The two companies have joined forces in a consortium with other organisations to pioneer and develop a project that will reveal the condition of Barcelona's sewers. The Aerial Robot for Sewer Inspection (ARSI) project fea- tures within the framework of the European Echord++ (Euro- pean Coordination Hub for Open Robotics Development). At the heart of the project is an innovative micro airborne vehicle (drone) equipped with multiple sensors that has been designed to speed up, facili- tate and improve the inspec- tion of Barcelona's 1,500km sewerage system. The pioneer- ing, intelligent and efficient robotic solution is expected to go into service in Barcelona next year. The sewerage system is one of the main pieces of infra- structure in a city but its inspection involves a large number of people working in unhealthy conditions in a con- fined and dangerous environ- ment. To guarantee their safety, as well as minimising physical and biological risks, special safety measures are required for a high number of workers, including the slow operation of tasks and very safe protective equipment. The ARSI project, through the design of a multi-rotor air- borne platform equipped with sensors for semi-automatic navigation and data capture, solves the problems of the ser- vice required and gives added value in the following aspects: It avoids the need for teams of workers to enter compli- cated and potentially unsafe areas. It reduces direct labour, redesigning the undertaking systems and generating new, more qualified work posts. It offers quicker inspections given its great manoeuvrability ONSITE ASSET MANAGEMENT Flying drones through the sewers means engineers do not have to work in unhealthy conditions and the ability to avoid obsta- cles and irregular floors. Its small size allows the inspection of sections less than 1m wide. It provides progress in col- lecting and treating data on the sewerage system with a holistic proposal for inte- grating the results of the sensors in existing informa- tion platforms. FCC's Environment division has more than 100 years' expe- rience in managing, cleaning and maintaining sewerage net- works, including Barcelona's which it has been managing since 1911. The head of FCC Environment's technical 10 WET NEWS DECEMBER 2017 "The floors and surfaces are slippery, there's no lighting at all, and sometimes there are even problems with gases." Raúl Hernández, FCC Environment department in Barce- lona, Raúl Hernández, explains: "These networks are difficult spaces to work in because they are relatively small and narrow, although they vary in size. The floors and surfaces are slippery, there's no lighting at all, and sometimes there are even problems with gases." The drone's flexibility and manoeuvring capability make it 'ideal' for subsoil inspections