The combined application of artificial intelligence and autonomous drones to the water industry

Abstract

[EN] The proposed project focuses on the use of drones with autonomous capabilities for the inspection of water treatment processes in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Trickling filters and activated sludge have been selected as systems were to proof the concept of using autonomous drones for daily route inspections. Malfunction of such systems occurs on a regular basis. In remote and small plants, inspector officers cannot scan the systems daily, meaning that when they malfunction, the discharges will not be meeting the consents established by the regulators. To avoid this, the use of autonomous drones in combination of artificial intelligence (AI) could help to detect failures in the systems meaning that the inspector officer can get to know in advance if it is necessary to check the WWTP or not, which is one of the main expenses of the UK water companies, sending inspector officers frequently to these remote rural areas. The results of the combined used of autonomous drones and AI proved that the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be used for asset inspection in the water industry, specifically in wastewater treatment processes. The next steps of the water industry to develop the use of AI and UAVs would be in reservoirs nutrient detection, in wetlands the plant density measurement and plant identification and odour, volatile compounds and greenhouse emissions detection from WWTPs.