Ben Berry,Founder and CEO

AirShip Technologies Group

UAV Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader Use Case Power line inspection involves examining the pylons and their high voltage insulators. Even connecting screws must be intact. The inspection frequency depends on transmission line size. The AirShip Endurance V2 can hover at a horizontal distance close enough for observation, approximately 10-400 feet depending on the equipment used and at a maximum height of about 4,500 feet from the ground. Because the V2 uses noise reduction propellers and/or super compressed air, lower decibel noise allows for longer inspection hours, unlike traditional helicopters. This helps satisfy noise abatement laws and eliminates disturbance to livestock.

Electricity providers can now commission the service of the AirShip Endurance V2 VTOL UAV to conduct power line inspections, monitor insulators and detect thermo graphic problems. Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to electrical substations located near demand centers. This is distinct from the local wiring between high-voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electric power distribution. Transmission lines, when interconnected with each other, become transmission networks. The combined transmission and distribution network is known as the "power grid".

Some power line inspection uses “multi spectral thermal imaging” which is good if for flying a UAV above the tower where a thermal imaging device is looking at two side by side ceramic insulators or junction boxes. You can see based on the color of the video, if one side is hotter than the other.  However, this shows only a visual representation of the different thermal or heat signatures that inspectors are looking at to give operators a heads up on which unit has a problem. Thermal imaging alone does not provide an actual exact digital temperature reading of each piece of equipment that is being inspected. 

The AirShip Endurance V2 is equipped with a point and shoot laser temperature sensor can be d\esigned specifically to be integrated into the V2 platform.  For power companies, this capability is a “key critical requirement.  They don’t just want to know that a piece of equipment is hotter than normal from thermal imaging, they need to know exactly what the actual temperature is, and power line inspectors are already used to using point and shoot laser temperature readers without trying to decipher thermal imaging.

Power companies spend a ton of money every day sending field techs out checking power lines, towers or other equipment all over a state or country.  They have to get out of their trucks and do visual inspection (binoculars), temp readings (handheld Laser Temp Reading devices, Home Depot type devices. They have to point at the equipment as mentioned above, as well as climb towers for further detailed inspection – they can’t see the top of the units from the ground - and or replacements).  To make matters worse, hunters and campers are constantly out in the countryside shooting their guns on the tower equipment, blowing out or damaging ceramic spacers, junction boxes, or other equipment that they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Not only do inspection techs have to deal with harsh weather, but a lot of these towers are in very isolated places, hard to reach areas, getting stuck in the snow or sand all the time.  Using the AirShip V2, operators can leverage the UAV by sitting inside the safety of a truck with a laptop controlling the UAV units for these inspections, temp readings, and the GPS locations of specific problem towers.  All of this within line-of-sight from a truck (current FAA regulations) as the Tech parks in an area that they can see and inspect several towers at the same time.  And in the near future (once FAA opens up to beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) UAV’s, they will have the capability to remotely control these units (BLOS) at their local command and control headquarters, without having to send out field techs.  They would only have to send out techs for those units identified as problem towers based on UAV video/temp readings, and

AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. – Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader AirScape Use Case 1

Persistent Endurance

AirShip Endurance V2 VTOL UAV In-Flight

GPS location at the time of inspection. 

In the near-future, a Mobile Hive AirScape Operation, or AirScape subscribtion inspection service will allow for control of multiple UAV’s at the same time (i.e. covering a wider range of area). Power companies have a lot of open country to cover!AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. (www.AirShipTG.com), an American Pacific Northwest firm, plans to serve power line generator service providers with its AirShip Endurance VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). AirShipTG’s UAVs can dramatically save power providers time and resources for preventive maintenance, during power outages and with meter reading. This Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader Use Case is served by our AirScape services, including video and visual imaging inspection, multi-spectral imaging and wireless meter reading. Our long flight endurance AirShip Endurance UAVs serve power line generators in diverse geographic topologies.

This UAV Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader use case was developed after interviews and meetings with power generation companies regarding their requirements for the use of UAVs and includes, but is not limited to the following:

Power Outages Short on Staff. The UAV serves as a force multiplier so the power

generator company can deploy UAVs to perform inspections instead of deploying more staff to cover the same service area.

Power Line Assessments. Using multispectral and high definition gimbal-based cameras, the UAV can be operated via radio control, cellular internet or autonomous flight management software to assess the power infrastructure.

Power Line Inspections. The UAV is outfitted with a point and shoot laser exact temperature device that specifically designed to be integrated into the V2 platform.

Line Breaks. Even a temporary loss of electricity can cause not only minor and major inconveniences for citizens, but significant losses to the economy. With quick deployment, the UAV’ can help to survey current line breaks or inspect the lines as a preventive action.

Service Continuity. Electrical failures always seem to happen at the worst possible time. Some malfunctions can be prevented by simply performing good maintenance; however, often things just fail.. When disaster happens, the difference between the situation remaining manageable and it becoming a crisis is how it is handled in the first few hours. The UAV can fly to the GPS site of failure and allow operators to see the power generation site and infrastructure ahead of when repair teams arrive. Essentially, the UAV can conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) ahead of the repair team arrival.

Meter Reading Smart Meter Reading for Electric Meters. UAV-enabled smart meters

run on two frequencies. The frequency communicating to the electric meter is 900 MHz (megahertz). If the premise also has a gas or water meter, the frequency from the electric meter to the gas meter is 2.4 GHz (gigahertz). The electric meter frequency is similar to a cell phone and the water or gas meter frequency is similar to a computer router. Neither device will interfere with any wireless devices in the environment.

Proximity Reading. In this deployment approach, the UAV is equipped with a payload consisting of a specialized gateway box. The gateway box works with a controller, a sensor reader, a Wi-Fi network, a proximity sensor and a 3G or 4G network. As the UAV follows its flight path, the proximity sensor transmitter detects the availability of a sensor receiver in its path and triggers a network connection to the remote sensor. The controller then proceeds to read the sensor and either stores it locally if no 3G/4G network is available or forwards it to a data cloud if the 3G/4G network is available. Once the data is in the cloud, it is available for further analysis and processing by back end operations.

First-Person View (FPV)-Enabled. Use of the on-board FPV can help direct views critically important for electric infrastructure maintenance monitoring or viewing compromised infrastructure prior to power restoration. FPV, also known as remote-person view (RPV), or simply video piloting, is a method used to control the radio-controlled UAV from the driver or pilot's view point. Most commonly it can be used to pilot the unmanned aerial vehicle. The UAV is either driven or piloted remotely

AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. – Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader AirScape Use Case 2

Commercial AirShip Endurance V2

Ducted Fan Air Accelerators

Impeller Propulsion powers AirShip V2’s Two Lateral and Pivotal Rear

Ducted Turbine Air Accelerators

AirShip Unified Airframe

AirShipV2 uses Printable electronic Solar Cells with

Conductive Nanoparticle Inks onto Polymers

from a first-person perspective via an onboard camera, fed wirelessly to a technician’s video goggles or a video monitor. More sophisticated setups include a pan-and-tilt gimbaled camera controlled by a gyroscope sensor in the pilot's goggles and with dual onboard cameras, enabling a true stereoscopic view.

Safety. The AirShip Endurance VTOL UAV does not use exposed rotors, and the aircraft is able to operate safely with human operators in close proximity because the ducted fan rotor assemblies are enclosed.

AirShipTG’s core competencies are a) vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL); UAV airframe and fuselage ducted fan design and development, b) Solar turbine clean tech integrated air accelerator propulsion, c) regenerative drive of its lateral turbines, and d) persistent high endurance autonomous flight control. The UAVs are targeted for commercial/civil/and military use cases as they seek alternatives to using helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, or terrestrial vehicles. Now that there are numerous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft in operation around the world, this market is in demand!

The AirShip V2 and AirShip V5 VTOL UAV with their AirScape service delivery system represents a disruptive entry into what will become a highly sought after commercial use of UAVs that expands far beyond military use. The UAV serves as a service delivery platform for power line inspection and meter reader use case applications. The UAV’s “AirScape” service is a low cost, scalable UAV-as-a-Service capable of serving multi-year contracts for multiple AirShipTG enabled use cases.

Two things have come together to make the AirShip Endurance UAV invention the next killer app and game changer. First, AirShip Technologies Group has developed a clean tech Solar Turbine to power the AirShip V2 and V5 UAV with an external solar film array and aerial regenerative drive that recharges internal electric storage. This tandem ducted fan with integrated clean tech air accelerator power provides propulsion for the UAV’s long endurance flight of 30 to 90 days, depending on weather conditions. Secondly, in the United States, the Defense Appropriation Act of 2012, mandates the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) House Bill to open up the U.S. national airspace (NAS) for lightweight UAVs to serve 1st Responders, of which departments of transportation are considered. We plan to adhere to the FAA requirements of a total weight no more than 55 pounds and a 400 foot altitude ceiling.

The AirShip V2 and V5’s serve as an aerial service delivery platforms for:

a) AirScape Services – A 24x7 geographic video on-demand surveillance service that is low cost, is scalable, and delivers persistent flight endurance. AirScape can serve multiple clients simultaneously.

b) Solar Array Film – A breakthrough patented solar array film that delivers up to 28% first-generation solar cell efficiency to power the AirShip V2’s propulsion for long-flight endurance.

Diverse AirShip VTOL UAV Drone MarketplaceAirShip Endurance V2 and V5 VTOL UAVs

Cellular Internet

Communications

Operations Mgt.• Security & Privacy• Account & Billing Mgt.• Service Differentiation• Multi-Year Subscription

Services• Google Earth API UI• Dedicated and Regional

Services• Service Level

Agreements• Cloud Computing• Wireless Cellular and

Emergency Comms

Main Components:• Air/Vehicle Drone Production• Persistent Flight Endurance• Cluster Drone Flight Mgt.• GPS Communications• Antonymous Mission Deploy.• Manufacturing and Certification• Google Earth User Interface

Core Business:• GIS Video-on-Demand • Emergency First

Respondent CoveragePhase 1 1st Responders Market:• Fire Departments• Police Departments• Dept of Transportation• Hospitals• News Organizations• Emergency Management• National Guard

Phase 2 Corporate Market:• Railroads• Utilities• Private Sector

AirShip Endurance V2

VTOL UAV

Phase 3 Service Provider Market:• Google Maps• Microsoft Bing Maps• Yahoo Maps• Zillow Images

• State Govt• County Govt• City Govt• Disaster Relief

• Not-for-Profits• NGO’s

Customers & Account Management

““AirScapeAirScape”” 24x7 Real-Time Video Coverage Service

Together, the AirShip V2 and V5 VTOL UAVs and AirScape service represents a quantum leap over competitor solutions for geographic imaging services. As a UAV service delivery platform, the V2 and V5’s serve to host several applications that will be phased in over time. As a commercial aerial imaging and

AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. – Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader AirScape Use Case 3

surveillance service for electric power generation service providers with geographically dispersed assets on the ground, and information service providers, this aerial platform represents a powerfully broad opportunity. Overall, our market entry strategy is well defined by diverse marketplace phases shown below.

AirScape Commercial and Defense ApplicationsMilitary Mission Environmental Surveillance Surveillance and Reconnaissance Environmental GIS Video ScanningPublic Safety Fire Prevention and Monitoring Law Enforcement Media Coverage Homeland Security Local and National News Flyovers

Border Surveillance Public Sporting Events

(Internal/External) Emergency Management Hazardous Materials Coverage Disaster Relief Coverage Hazardous Materials MonitoringSearch and Rescue Services Utility Assets Observation Sea Search and Rescue Pipe Line Monitoring Hospital Emergency Department Asset Management Surveillance Resorts and Resort Parks Monitoring Assets and Equipment Fire Department Emergencies Electronic SurveillanceOnline Map Augmentation Corporate Ground-Based Assets Google Maps Government Coverage Microsoft Bing Maps Highway Conditions Monitoring

Yahoo Maps Local and State Government

Service Zillow Home Maps Congestion & Accident MonitoringGeographic Information Systems Imagery» Agriculture » Homeland Security» Archaeology » Land Cover and Change Detection» Coastal Management » Land Development» Defense Mapping » Law Enforcement» Engineering & Construction » Mining» Coastal Management » Motion Pictures» Defense Mapping » Natural Hazards» Engineering & Construction » Oil & Gas Exploration and Development» Environmental Monitoring » Pipeline & Transmission Surveys» Forestry » Sports and Tourism» Geospatial » Electric Power Generation Inspection

and Meter Reader

There’s a familiar pattern in Reinvention: Rethinking answers to problems lead to a new technology coming along to fill a long-standing need. But as it becomes widely implemented, questions arise over how best to use it and how it may affect the rest of the World!

Should you have any follow up questions, please feel free to contact us directly.

Sincerely,

AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. – Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader AirScape Use Case 4

Ben Berry, Founder and CEOAirShip Technologies Group, Inc.18522 Anduin Terrace Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Phone: (503) 320-1175Ben.Berry1@AirShipTG.com

AirShip Technologies Group, Inc. – Power Line Inspection and Meter Reader AirScape Use Case 5