Honeywell Announces Inspection Service Using Intel's Drone

Avionics and engine manufacturer Honeywell announced the launch of its first commercial unmanned aircraft system (UAS) inspection service through a collaboration with Intel Corporation.

The “InView” service will support utility, energy, infrastructure, and oil-and-gas companies organize and standardize the way they conduct critical structure inspections, the company said. Honeywell will provide certified UAS pilots, use of Intel’s Falcon 8+ multi-rotor drone with appropriate sensors, a pilot app and customizable web portal.

Earlier this year, Airbus said it has established a new U.S. subsidiary—Airbus Aerial—to provide imagery to industrial customers using data collected from drones and satellites. Boeing’s Insitu subsidiary offers a service it calls Inexa Solutions, which includes UAS, sensors, analytics, command and control software and training.

Honeywell made its announcement on September 6 as much of the commercial small drone industry assembled in Las Vegas for the InterDrone conference. Intel Corporation, a major sponsor and exhibitor at InterDrone, unveiled its own “Intel Insight Platform,” a cloud-based data processing, analytics and reporting service for managing data from drones, during the conference. Honeywell was not an exhibitor.

While its aerospace division is offering InView, the drone service benefits from parent company Honeywell’s presence in the utility sector and multiple industrial market segments.

“This collaboration combines Intel’s advanced commercial Falcon 8+ UAV system with Honeywell’s leadership in aerospace safety and connectivity,” said Carl Esposito, Honeywell Aerospace president of electronic solutions. “Through our extensive industrial experience, our customers will also gain access to Honeywell’s customized software and data solutions that will help them log, analyze, and eventually predict or prevent outages and structural failures.”