Structural wall inspection system using drones to perform nondestructive testing (ndt)

A system for inspecting a structure in a nondestructive manner, comprising:

• an omni-directional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including a body;
• an elongate support arm extending outward from the body to an outer end;
• a nondestructive testing (NDT) sensor mounted on or in the support arm at or near the second end;
• and
• a controller determining a normal of a surface of the structure,
• wherein the omni-directional UAV operates in response to control signals generated by the controller or received from a radio controller based on user input to follow a flight path whereby a longitudinal axis of the support arm coincides with the normal to the surface and whereby the NDT sensor is positioned in a predefined measurement position relative to the surface of the structure,
• wherein the NDT sensor is operated in the predefined measurement position to take measurements related to the surface of the structure, and
• wherein the flight path is contained in a plane that is at an offset angle from a horizontal plane, whereby the body is in a non-horizontal orientation while the NDT sensor is operated to take the measurements.

A system for inspecting a structure in a nondestructive manner, comprising:

• an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including a body;
• a support arm extending outward from the body from a first end attached to the body to a second end distal to the body;
• a nondestructive testing (NDT) sensor mounted on or in the support arm at or near the second end;
• and
• an autopilot module automatically stabilizing flight of the UAV with the support arm substantially orthogonal to the surface and the second end of the support arm spaced apart a distance from the surface,
• wherein the UAV operates in response to control signals generated by the autopilot module or received from a radio controller based on user input to follow a flight path, whereby the NDT sensor is positioned in a predefined measurement position relative to the surface of the structure.