A small description of our products and services.

1. 2015
Albatroz Engineering
Engineering solutions for Overhead Line Inspections and
Three-dimension Modelling

2. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
About Us
Albatroz Engineering was founded in 2006. Since then, has been working closely with its customers
to provide innovative and cost effective solutions by investing in leading edge technologies and in a
highly trained and motivated engineering team, and by committing ourselves to rigorous R&D
principles and activities and to understanding the needs of our customers, with the intent to
develop targeted solutions. These may be built upon existing products or require the creation of a
new product. Products and solutions may be proposed to the customers in the form of purchase,
rental or services performed by Albatroz Engineering' team.
Albatroz Engineering is specialised in three fields:
 Overhead power lines
 Airworthiness certification
 Three-dimension modelling
Albatroz Engineering can provide customised and integrated engineering solutions to help meet
overhead line operation and maintenance. Distinguished by its competitive price level and for
adapting its solutions to the characteristics of each customer, offering in that way a specialised and
unique service that meets the specifications and requirements in each case.
Albatroz Engineering has always been committed to innovation and development, and its R&D
teams include experts in robotics, reliability and remaining timelife, aeronautics and airworthiness,
software, time & space information management. All are dedicated to develop innovative
proposals and to constantly improve existing products.

3. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
Products and Solutions
PLMI (Power Line Maintenance Inspection)
The PLMI system was designed for airborne maintenance inspections of overhead line based on
helicopters with a crew of one pilot and one or two expert inspectors. PLMI has one airborne
segment and one office segment.
The airborne segment (sometimes named “on-Flight”) includes sensors, computing hardware,
mechanical supports to install all hardware in the helicopter and keep the crew safe, controlling
electronics, real-time processing and user-interfaces. The office segment (sometimes named “on-
Land”) was created for detailed analysis after the flight. It is composed mainly of software running
in regular office workstations.
Both "on-Flight" real-time interface and data and "on-Land" software read and write data from and
to geo-referenced databases which are, in turn, compatible with asset management database
systems.
PLMI empowers inspectors to perform multiple inspections in one single flight over the power
lines combining automated and human assessments including:
The customer defines the issues to be inspected and combines all sensor data into one common
digital recording. The system may be enhanced incrementally, beginning with a limited number of
features. Later, it is possible to add new features as needs arise.
Thermography Corona
Inspection
Environmental
inspection
(birds)
Clearance or
right-of-way
inspection
Visual inspection &
asset inventory

4. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
Human driven real-time inspections offer optimal insight into installations. However, the number
of inspections or inspectors that can be carried simultaneously is limited. Thus, Albatroz
Engineering develops solutions combining human skills with signal processing to improve overall
performance.
LiDAR-based clearance (also known as right-of-way [ROW]) inspection is fully automated. It is also
highly valuable because it integrates with other inspections with dramatic savings in helicopter
operation costs. Depending on the characteristics of existing inspection routines, LiDAR can be
integrated with existing functions for 10% to 25% of the cost of inspection, which means a huge
gain value to customers with a modest increase in marginal costs. Although one can argue that the
clearance specifications are below other competitors’, the density of 3D clouds, the accuracy and
precision of measurements suit the needs of maintenance.
Some particular features of visual inspections, such as stork nest surveys, are also being
automated. In other cases, robotics and software assist inspectors to work efficiently. One airborne
inspection crew equipped with a PLMI system can oversee more than 15000 km/year of
transmission and distribution grids at a minimal cost and free from third party calendar
constraints.
Since November 2007, the PLMI system completed over 200 000km* of overhead lines inspected
with LiDAR with real-time automatic processing from 10kV to 400kV. This ranks the company
among the world leaders in length of lines inspected.
*Continuously increasing.

5. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
GMI (Ground Maintenance Inspection)
One of Albatroz Engineering’s values is proximity, which means to adapt to the customer
requirements and its operation environment. Since the early days of the PLMI system
development, the need for a ground system became apparent. Therefore, the company also offers
GMI which is an innovative, cost-effective approach to overhead power line (medium to very high
voltage) inspections.
The hardware is significantly different from PLMI and some of the inspection functions are
modified (for instance, doing thermography pointing upwards to the sky presents different
challenges of pointing downwards to the ground). However, many of the features of PLMI are
kept:
 The inspection data can be visualised and verified through the user interface in real-time;
 Once the inspection routine is complete, the system can generate a report that can be sent
to maintenance teams;
 The inspection data can be uploaded to the same maintenance, asset and Geographic
Information System databases.
One client can operate simultaneously a PLMI system and a GMI system, depending on the needs
and characteristics of the grid, the terrain, the environmental constraints, and the value of each
section of the grid. Once in the maintenance system data are expressed in a consistent manner.
Moreover, a client can migrate from one solution to the other, without losing consistency in the
inspection data as the perceived value of inspections evolves.
The GMI equipment is fast and easy to use. Once the system is installed on the roof of a vehicle
using the supplied mounting accessories, and connected to the vehicle´s 12V D plug (24V optional)
the inspection crew can perform multiple inspections and register all relevant occurrences while
following the overhead line at low speeds..
One of the fields where the application of ground vehicles can be more interesting is in the
integration of inspection with maintenance and audit. Imagine a process of ground inspection
which incorporates not only maintenance works but also the replacement of signalling messages,
measurement of ground resistances and the cleaning of the supports basements. Or a process to

6. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
clean the vegetation on the lane line which includes a mini-LiDAR function to verify in real-time if
the recommended security distances are being maintained, auditing the maintenance process
when the effectiveness grows up.
The simplicity of low cost ground systems enables their installation in different types of vehicles
satisfying in this way different operational needs; wheeled vehicles can vary or be replaced by
airboats or quad-bikes. For all these reasons, PLMI was designed to source its energy from a 12V or
24V outlet and use minimum power. The image below shows an early prototype of the GMI
featuring:
GPS sensor to locate the data
Laser sensor to measure distances
Wide angle video camera to record
the inspections
Laptop used to show control interface,
store the data and produce the reports (not shown)
12V connector, current regulator and protections to power the system (not shown)
Accessories to fix the system to the vehicle (not shown)

7. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
Due to the flexibility of GMI system, Albatroz Engineering is currently perfecting its usage in two
different ways:
 Adapting it to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV, creating this way a system that
integrates all of the quality of this system together with the flexibility and manoeuvrability
of UAV equipment.
This allows a detailed and localized inspection, giving us the tools to:
 Combating corrosion of medium
and high voltage cables;
 Analysis of structural condition of
high tension towers;
 Verification of signs;
 Supervision of the physical integrity
of the insulators.
 With the miniaturisation of technology, it was possible to create a small, lightweight
system enough to be transported manually thus allowing the user to access remote
locations to perform quality and rigorous inspections. This system is intended to be used by
an inspector carrying and operating all the equipment alone.
All GMI variants share the following basic features:
 Automatic track clearance inspection software with obstacle detection including vegetation
and human-made structures;
 Image recording and time-space synchronisation;
 Real-time, recording of clearance Points of Interest (other features will follow);
 Automatic report generation;
 Data integration with databases and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

8. Albatroz Engineering www.Albatroz-eng.com
Both PLMI and GMI were created in response to the needs of transmission, sub-transmission and
distribution utilities. In spite of all differences, they share common goals that Albatroz Engineering
addresses with its solutions:
 Ensure the safety on the track using quantitative methods to monitor the width of the strip
along the line and the existence of obstacles;
 Register and locate the detected nonconformities;
 Preparing audit reports and analysing the evolution of the space-time on the line;
 Deliver immediate information on the condition of the grid to dispatch centres and
maintenance crews, as well as information for maintenance planning for the years ahead.
Integrating multiple sensors and inspection procedures yields the following benefits:
 Immediate inspection reports of critical issues on the field, just after the flight;
 Modularity, as inspectors can operate decide autonomously which functions to use on
each installation according to the requirements of utility maintenance;
 Data synchronisation associates all data streams with time and location through GPS;
 Flexibility, it can incorporate the clients´ equipment into the solution, making the best use
of previous investments;
 Comprehensive view of the installation, as all items are analysed in similar operating
conditions and can be compared with previous inspections to offer a better insight into the
hardware wear out;
 Integration with information infrastructure associated to asset management and
geographical information system (GIS);
 Leverage the best human expertise with the best of advanced robotics;
 Integrates all types of inspection in one mission.
For more information please refer to our website www.albatroz-eng.com or contact
us through Luís Raposo at LFRaposo@Albatroz-eng.com.