{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Drones in Solar, Aerial Thermography For PV Site Inspections & More with Austin Coffin of Raptor Maps","description":"Questions- (1:11) Tell us about your background and what brought you into the drone industry? (2:43) Tell us more about Raptor Maps solar specific drone services and the data analytics it provides? (4:10) How has the industry-specific focused strategy helped fuel Raptor Maps growth? (7:10): Can you talk to us about all the various types of solar companies and what the differences between them are? (9:50) What drone services are being offered to solar EPCs, O&M, and asset management firms? (13:30) What challenges are solar companies having when trying to create their own drone program? (15:30) What are the pros\/cons of using image & video capture to inspect solar farms? Which method does Raptor Maps use to process inspection data? (19:54) What recommendations do you have for drone service providers interested in getting more involved in the solar industry? (23:22) Which drones and thermal sensors work for solar inspections? What are the pros and cons of various options out there? (29:03) Where do you see the solar industry moving and how do you see drones continuing to support the industry (32:10) Final 3 Rapid Fire: -Coolest place the drone industry has taken you? -Craziest client request? -Coolest project you have worked on?   What You Will Learn- (3:00) How Raptor Maps is supporting the solar industry with its cutting edge drone analytics software (5:25) How an industry specific focused strategy can help propel  business growth and differentiate yourself from competitors (7:30) The differences between various kinds of solar companies, what they do, and the relationships between each of them (10:00) The drone use cases in solar and the services drone providers can and are offering in the solar industry (13:45) The challenges that solar companies are having when trying to implement drone technology and where opportunities lie for DSPs (16:30) How to capture high quality infrared and visual data to inspect solar systems (17:45) The most common types of thermal anomalies found in solar inspections that are incorrectly identified (18:30) The pitfalls of processing solar inspection data into orthomosiacs and using it to generate inspection reports rather than image based analytics (20:10) Why solar companies with internal drone programs still often need drone service provider support (20:50) Tips for drone pilots and service providers to get more involved within the solar industry and find opportunities (23:50) What thermal sensor work for solar inspections and why only certain resolution sensors work (24:20) What lens size for thermal sensors is the best (ie 9\/13\/19\/25\/etc) (25:25) Why software considerations are so important to establish before even doing flight planning and conducting the solar inspection (26:45) Why a dual IR & RGB sensor is extremely beneficial for solar inspections and the pitfalls of using an infrared only sensor like the XT (29:30) Where the solar industry moving in the future, how drones will continue to support the industry, and where opportunities can be found moving forward (32:55) The opportunities in solar warranty claim inspections     Links Mentioned- www.Raptormaps.com\/resources www.Raptormaps.com\/contact-us   For more information on the podcast or this episode visit: https:\/\/skyelink.org\/blog\/Harnessing-Aerial-Podcast-Launch ","author_name":"Harnessing Aerial - Drone Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/skyelink.org","html":"