GPA using drones to inspect Sinajana power poles

The Guam Power Authority has a lot of experience being vertical – supporting power poles and distribution towers that reach several stories high, as well as feeder lines and bucket trucks that go skyward to maintain them. But the utility agency is now getting a bird's eye vantage point using drones to inspect infrastructure more safely, rapidly, and accurately than ever before.

"I think it's a wonderful use of technology," stated Robert Hofmann, the mayor of Sinajana. He told KUAM News, "I think I've been in office for about 20 years and before you'd have to have these bucket trucks for people to do visual inspections, so to have GPA using tech with drones to inspect the monotubes that are all the way from the top of the hill there mountains all the way down going through Mongmong...they've been in the village for a few days already, and it's been amazing to see."

GPA explains how the job site, as high as 70 feet up, was an assessment of the poles for structural integrity, impacts due to nature, and overall health. Antonio "JS" Gumataotao, the supervisor for GPA's geographic information system (GIS) engineering group, said, "With a team of two they can go up there and inspect the the asset. We're looking for different types of things, whether it be rust or any type of corrosion, or things like that within the polls.

GIS analyst Martin Ogo added, "We can exploit as much data as we can. We're using it for the mayors - we just had a meeting with them yesterday, and they really enjoyed the product that we have for them. We showed them our drone capabilities as well as our 360 camera."

This is a massive step forward for an agency where the rule for its workforce is safety first, with Gumataotao saying, "The drone operators go out and and look and study a site, look for launch points and recovery sites, as well as alternate sites. They go in and get clearance from the FAA and they go in and get weather conditions. So it's a really, really robust concept of operations - it's proper mission planning.

"For safety, we put out signs and we have a spotter, and part of the rules is having line-of-sight."

Robert Charfauros, who works on GIS and pilots the aircraft, said it's all about doing the job right, saying, "It all depends on the weather. It depends on how many batteries we have. We can get a lot of polls done; I would say with a single battery, we're going to take imagery for each pole, we  could get roughly 20 polls."

And as far as the municipal leader whose village benefits from GPA's work, Sinajana mayor Robert Hoffman says it's a very progressive step forward in public service. He shared, "It doesn't impede traffic anymore, it doesn't hurt anybody, it doesn't bother anybody. And our residents just know it's up there, so we ask our villagers to just observe it - it's pretty cool to watch!

"And, just don't shoot them down - don't think it's one of them drone things that you've been seeing happening in the United States or in New Jersey. This is not this is a government program and so I really appreciate the use of technology."