SMART GLASSES | REMOTE INSPECTION
Far left: Remote inspections save time, costs and reduce environmental impact
Centre and right: Headsets can be integrated in personal protective equipment for industrial locations
under protective eyewear or integrated into a safety helmet. Personal protective equipment minimises the risks to employees that a harsh working environment often entails. The voice-controlled user interface offers further safety benefits. It ensures that the wearer’s hands are free, and he or she can concentrate on the actual inspection process. Before an inspection takes place remotely though, a
couple of questions need to be addressed. Is a remote inspector available near the job site? Can the customer fully brief the inspector – and are all required technical documents available and valid? Furthermore, the customer must agree to a remote inspection and this approach must meet all the regulatory requirements defined by national and international authorities. Another key validation point is to ensure the glasses and their software can be integrated into the existing IT infrastructure.
Taking a smart approach Having addressed these key questions, to ensure that remote inspections are possible the next step is to check the technical requirements. To connect smart glasses, the internet connection must be fast and reliable. Since a remote inspection sometimes involves several hours of moving images, the amount of data that must be transferred is easily underestimated. In general, a bandwidth of 4Mbit/s (both up and down) is sufficient to ensure an inspection without any technical interruptions. In any case, the Wi-Fi or LTE connection at the site must be tested for compatibility in advance – remotely, for example, using a common web browser. Evaluating several additional conditions that must be
met for the remote inspection to proceed is also important: ● The type of data backup must be agreed with the data protection officer on site.
● Data security measures, such as blurring faces, are taken. ● All technical documents are reviewed regarding completeness and validity.
● The camera movement is smooth and the recorded movements slow.
● Ensuring data transfer and data security requirements are met.
Because much of the inspected site’s data is transmitted online, data security is critical especially in times of hybrid warfare, which also affects critical infrastructure. All data should be stored on servers that meet the security criteria of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). TÜV SÜD, for example, uses secured servers in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 27001 – Information Security Management Standard. Prior to a remote inspection, the customer must give permission for audio and video transmissions. On-site security measures should be reviewed by a data protection officer, if possible. He or she may need to specify privacy measures such as face blurring or approve a backup.
Cutting costs in a climate-friendly way TÜV SÜD has been able to put the smart glasses to good use for remote inspections at nuclear facilities. Their application saved money, time, and greenhouse gas emissions. For a recent project with a nuclear power plant equipment supplier, experts for welding technology, leak tightness and Non-Destructive Testing connected remotely with five inspectors from TÜV SÜD Energietechnik. Together they inspected all critical components using digital manuals and schematics. Despite lockdown and travel restrictions they saved half a day of flight time and seven international flights worth around EUR4,000 as well as 20 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Even without lockdown measures in place, smart glasses
pay off in terms of the economic environment as well as curbing the environmental impact of the inspection process. Distances, travel restrictions or cost inefficiencies will continue to be a decisive argument. According to a Fortune Business Insights analysis, the global inspection, repair, and maintenance (IRM) market was down 7.2% in 2020 when compared with 2019 figures. Nevertheless, the IRM market will recover from the pandemic: growth from about US$43bn in 2022 to nearly $73bn by the end of this decade is expected. In addition, the huge trend toward digitisation in most industries suggests that the value of remote inspection technology will increasingly be recognised and their application will rapidly increase. ■
www.neimagazine.com | December 2022 | 31
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