Thermal Survey

Drone-mounted thermal imaging that turns invisible heat signatures into actionable data — for solar farms, electrical infrastructure, building envelopes and industrial assets across Kenya.

See what the eye can't — in heat

A visual camera records what a surface looks like. A thermal camera records what it's doing. Hot spots on a solar array, overloaded conductors on a distribution board, moisture trapped behind cladding — none of these show up in a photograph, and all of them show up in a thermogram.

We fly radiometric thermal sensors alongside standard RGB cameras so every anomaly is located, measured and cross-referenced with a visual image. The output is a prioritised defect list your maintenance or engineering team can act on, not a folder of pretty heat maps.

Drone thermal survey heat map of solar installation

What you receive

Calibrated thermal data alongside visual imagery — packaged for the decision your team needs to make.

Radiometric thermograms

Calibrated thermal images with embedded temperature data. Open in FLIR Tools, DJI Thermal Analysis or your preferred software and read absolute temperatures at any pixel.

Georeferenced thermal orthomosaic

A stitched, map-accurate thermal layer showing the entire site in one view. Overlay it on the visual orthomosaic or your GIS to pinpoint anomalies by location.

Visual RGB imagery

High-resolution photos captured on the same flight, cross-referenced with the thermal data so every hot spot has a corresponding visual for context.

Defect and anomaly report

A structured report listing each anomaly with its location, temperature delta, severity classification, visual and thermal image pair, and recommended action.

How a thermal survey runs

Thermal capture is sensitive to conditions. The process is designed around getting clean data, not just flying the site.

01
Scope and conditions planning
We agree the assets, the question (defect screening, energy audit, moisture detection) and the environmental window — thermal surveys need the right solar load, ambient temperature and wind conditions to produce reliable data.
02
Dual-sensor capture
Thermal and RGB cameras fly the site simultaneously. Flight height, overlap and emissivity settings are chosen for the target surface and the resolution the analysis needs.
03
Thermal processing and analysis
Radiometric data is processed, stitched where needed, and analysed against baseline temperatures. Anomalies are classified by type and severity.
04
Report and handover
The defect report, thermal ortho, raw radiometric files and cross-referenced visuals are delivered in a format your maintenance, engineering or energy team can act on immediately.

Where thermal pays off

Any asset where failure generates heat before it generates a visible problem.

Solar farm inspection

Panel-level screening for hot spots, bypass diode failures, cell damage, soiling and underperforming strings — covering thousands of panels in a single flight window.

Electrical infrastructure

Substations, switchgear, transformers and distribution lines. Overloaded connections and failing components show up as heat before they show up as outages.

Building envelope and energy audit

Heat loss through walls, roofs, windows and insulation gaps. Useful for energy performance certificates, retrofit planning and post-construction QA.

Industrial plant and pipelines

Insulation failures, blockages, leaks and abnormal process temperatures on tanks, vessels, pipes and flare stacks — captured without shutting anything down.

Thermal kit we fly

Sensor choice depends on the resolution, the temperature range and the asset being inspected.

DJI Mavic 3 Thermal (M3T)

Dual-sensor platform with a 640×512 radiometric thermal camera and 48 MP visual camera. Our workhorse for solar, electrical and building envelope surveys.

DJI Zenmuse H20T / H30T

Enterprise-grade thermal payload on the Matrice platform for larger sites, higher-altitude flights and industrial inspection requiring wider temperature ranges.

RTK/GNSS positioning

Centimetre-accurate positioning so every thermal anomaly maps to a real-world coordinate — essential when the report needs to direct a maintenance crew to the right panel or connection.

DJI Thermal Analysis Tool / FLIR Tools

Post-processing software for radiometric analysis, emissivity adjustment, spot and area temperature measurement, and report generation from the raw thermal data.

Heat doesn't hide from the right sensor

We pair radiometric thermal cameras with the flight discipline of a survey operation — proper overlap, georeferencing and calibrated data. The result is a defect list, not a light show.

Thermal survey — questions we hear often

Practical answers for facility managers, solar O&M teams and building owners.

When is the best time to fly a thermal survey?

It depends on the asset. Solar panel inspections need high irradiance — typically late morning to early afternoon on a clear day with the array under full load. Building envelope surveys are best in the early morning before the sun heats external surfaces, or in the evening as they cool. We schedule around the conditions, not convenience.

How many solar panels can you cover in one flight?

A single flight window can screen 5,000–10,000 panels depending on array layout, flight height and overlap requirements. Large utility-scale farms are covered over multiple sorties across one or two days. Every panel gets a thermal and visual record.

What defects can thermal imaging actually detect?

On solar: hot spots, bypass diode failures, cracked cells, PID-affected modules, soiling and shading losses, underperforming strings. On electrical: overloaded connections, failing joints, unbalanced phases. On buildings: insulation gaps, moisture ingress, air leakage, thermal bridging. On industrial assets: insulation failure, blockages, leaks, abnormal process temperatures.

Is the thermal data calibrated or just relative?

Calibrated. We fly radiometric sensors that embed absolute temperature values at every pixel. Emissivity, reflected temperature and atmospheric corrections are applied during processing. You can open the files in FLIR Tools or DJI Thermal Analysis and read real temperatures, not just colour gradients.

Do you provide a defect report or just thermal images?

Both. Raw radiometric files and the thermal orthomosaic are delivered alongside a structured defect report. Each anomaly is listed with its location (GPS coordinates or panel ID), thermal image, visual image, temperature delta, severity classification and recommended action.

Can you combine thermal with a topographical or 3D survey?

Yes. We often fly thermal and RGB simultaneously, and the same flight data can feed a thermal orthomosaic, a visual orthomosaic, a DTM and a 3D model. This is especially useful for solar farm as-builts and building assessments where you want geometry and thermal performance in one dataset.