CONFINED SPACE DRONE SURVEYS
Vertex Air provides expert internal inspection services for complex and hazardous assets. Our specialist drone pilots safely capture highly detailed data and 3D models. This completely eliminates the need for dangerous human entry and minimises your operational downtime.
A Safer and Faster Survey Solution by Vertex Air
Traditional confined space entry requires extensive planning, specialist rescue teams, breathing apparatus and costly operational delays, all while carrying inherent risks to human life. Vertex Air transforms this process entirely.
As a specialist commercial drone operator, our highly trained teams deploy advanced drones to survey your assets in a fraction of the time. We handle the entire data capture process to provide you with comprehensive, actionable digital records of your infrastructure. This allows for safer planning before entry and completely removes your personnel from hazardous atmospheres.
Advanced Confined Space Survey Capabilities
4K Visual Inspections
Crystal clear imagery for detailed condition analysis. Utilising a 4K camera with a 180° field of view and an integrated 16,000 lumen lighting system to illuminate the darkest spaces.
3D LiDAR Mapping
Stabilised, survey grade 3D point clouds generated in real time. Navigate and map complex, dusty, or inaccessible locations safely to create a complete digital twin of your asset.
Thermal Imaging
Built in thermal cameras allow for the immediate identification of thermal anomalies, leaks, and hidden structural weaknesses, which can be reviewed in detail post flight.
Atmospheric Gas Monitoring
Equipped with specialised payloads, our team can actively monitor for up to 14 of the most common explosive and toxic gases (including LEL, H2S, CO, and O2 levels), mapping atmospheric hazards without risking human exposure.
Live Remote Streaming
You do not need to wait for the final report to see the asset. We securely stream the drone's live feed to your engineers and site managers located in a safe zone, allowing for collaborative decision making on site.
Confined Space Applications Across Industries
Civil Infrastructure & Transport
From complex railway tunnels to internal highway bridge voids and deep culverts. Our pilots provide detailed visual inspections and 3D mapping for critical transport networks, ensuring structural integrity without disrupting live traffic or requiring costly rail closures.
Utilities & Water Management
Vertex Air delivers comprehensive structural assessments of deep sewer networks, clean water reservoirs, and aqueducts. We gather highly accurate data for utility providers with zero risk of human contamination or exposure to hazardous underground gases.
Mining & Subsurface
Safely map and assess the stability of ventilation shafts, ore passes, and abandoned underground workings. Our advanced drone platforms allow our surveyors to gather survey grade data in total darkness, keeping your personnel safely away from the risk of rockfalls.
Power Generation & Energy
We conduct remote visual and LiDAR surveys inside industrial chimneys, boiler internals, cooling towers, and hydroelectric penstocks. Our teams capture critical condition data for high risk energy sectors where human entry is strictly prohibited or exceptionally dangerous.
Industrial & Manufacturing
Safe and rapid internal inspections of bulk storage tanks, pressure vessels, silos, and complex pipework networks. We help facility managers identify corrosion and structural defects without the need for extensive scaffolding or expensive ventilation procedures.
Construction & Engineering
We support civil engineering projects by providing detailed inspections of inaccessible voids, deep foundations, and structural columns. Our drone data integrates seamlessly into your existing CAD and BIM workflows for accurate project planning and structural verification.
Our Specialist Confined Space Drone
To capture survey grade data in the most challenging environments, our pilots deploy the industry leading Flyability Elios 3. Purpose built for internal inspections, this platform allows us to navigate complex voids and hazardous areas safely, ensuring we deliver precise data without compromising on site safety.
Collision Resilient Cage
Our drones feature an omnidirectional carbon fibre cage. This protects both our equipment and your critical assets from impacts with walls, pipes and obstructions, allowing our pilots to safely roll the drone along internal surfaces to capture close up data.
IP44 Ingress Protection
We frequently operate in harsh industrial environments. The Elios 3 is built to withstand dripping water, spray and heavy dust, ensuring our survey teams can complete your mission regardless of the internal conditions.
Market Leading Stability
Internal drafts and completely dark voids can ground standard drones. By combining advanced vision sensors with LiDAR, our pilots maintain complete control and market leading stability, ensuring the data we deliver to you is perfectly crisp.
Tailored Inspection Solutions: Drone to Human
Vertex Air takes a drone led approach to maximise safety and drastically reduce your operational downtime. However, we understand that every asset is unique.
If the geometry of a confined space is not suitable for a complete drone survey, or if our initial digital data reveals the need for a tactile physical inspection, we work seamlessly alongside our sister company, Vertex Access.
By utilising their highly trained, IRATA certified confined space entry and rope access teams, we can engineer a bespoke solution tailored exactly to your asset. Whether it is a fully remote drone survey or a hybrid approach where the drone's 3D map is used to safely plan a targeted human entry, we guarantee a safe and reliable data capture solution that works for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Confined Space Drones
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No. Because our pilots operate the drone safely from outside the confined space, there is zero human entry required during the initial survey phase. This completely eliminates the need for standby rescue teams, breathing apparatus, and complex permit to work systems associated with physical human entry.
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The Elios 3 uses a robust wireless transmission system. While range depends heavily on the layout and materials of the asset (for example thick concrete versus steel), we utilise range extenders and specialised antenna cables that can be dropped into shafts or fed through manholes to ensure strong signal penetration deep into complex structures.
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Yes. The drone is equipped with a 16,000 lumen LED lighting array that easily illuminates pitch black environments like sewer networks and storage tanks. Furthermore, the LiDAR scanner and SLAM technology do not require ambient light to navigate or map the environment, allowing our survey teams to build precise 3D models in total darkness.
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Depending on your project requirements, we provide high definition 4K video walkthroughs, high resolution still imagery of specific defects, radiometric thermal reports, live gas monitoring data, and highly accurate 3D point clouds (LAS or LAZ formats) that can be imported directly into your CAD or BIM software.
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The exact accuracy of our indoor 3D models depends entirely on your specific project, the surrounding environment and the geometry of the asset. Because confined spaces require SLAM technology rather than GPS, accuracy can vary from site to site. We always consult with you beforehand to evaluate your asset and ensure the data we capture will meet your exact engineering requirements, whether you need general spatial awareness, volumetric calculations or specific structural measurements.
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Currently, there are no commercially available inspection drones that hold full ATEX certification due to their exposed motors and batteries. However, Vertex Air heavily mitigates this risk through strict safety protocols. We can utilise our atmospheric gas monitoring payloads to test the environment first, or work alongside your site managers to ensure the asset is fully purged and vented before our pilots commence the flight.
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A major advantage of our service is the sheer speed of deployment. While a traditional physical entry might require days of scaffolding erection, ventilation, and rescue team preparation, our specialist pilots can often complete a comprehensive drone survey in a single day or even just a few hours. This drastically reduces your operational downtime and keeps your facility running smoothly.