We aim to process your data quickly and efficiently to ensure customer delight. We invest significant effort to process the data successfully the first time around. However, capturing these thousands of images might be challenging. Therefore, we created this article, considering the best practices to save you time and frustration during the data acquisition. First, we will share the minimum requirements for the flight plan.
Flight plan
We require visual (RGB) and thermal photos for the Solar Inspection Pro data product. A drone pilot will use an unmanned aerial system (a drone with a camera) to capture the data on-site.
The aerial data can be captured in two ways:
Using a dual camera system such as H20T/ XT2, visual and thermal data are simultaneously recorded. The main setting is based on the thermal flight, as the visual recording simply follows the thermal one.
* highly recommended for better quality & efficiency
Using separately visual a thermal system (separate setting)
Visual (RGB) Data Requirements
Ground Sample Distance (GSD): 1.0 - 1.5 cm per pixel at ground level.
Front Overlap (direction of the flight lines): 75%.
Side Overlap (perpendicular to the direction of the flight lines): 75%.
Flight Line Direction: Along the long edge of the solar rows.
Flight Path: At least 2 flight lines should be outside the boundaries of the operation in all directions.
Gimbal Orientation: standard Nadir (-90 deg), with acceptable deviation up to 20 deg to avoid sun glare.
Image Format: JPEG.
Each image should contain the following metadata: GPS location, relative altitude, gimbal pitch, gimbal yaw, gimbal roll, and local timestamp.Image Quality: in focus, free from motion blur and minimal glare.
Rooftop: When collecting data from rooftop solar installations, please find some interesting flight tips here.
Thermal Data Requirements
Ground Sample Distance (GSD): 5.5 cm per pixel at the panel level. Here are some interesting flight tips for collecting data from rooftop solar installations.
Front Overlap (direction of the flight lines): 75%.
Side Overlap (perpendicular to the direction of the flight lines): 75%.
Image Resolution: 640x512 pixels or greater.
Flight Line Direction: Along the long edge of the solar rows.
Flight Path: At least 2 flight lines should be outside the boundaries of the operation in all directions.
Gimbal Orientation: standard Nadir (-90 deg), with acceptable deviation up to 20 deg to avoid sun glare.
Image format: R-JPEG or Radiometric TIF.
Each image should contain the following metadata: GPS location, relative altitude, gimbal pitch, gimbal yaw, gimbal roll, and local timestamp.Image Quality: in focus, free from motion blur and minimal glare.
Environmental Conditions: Aim for a clear blue sky. If a cloud passes, wait 10-15 minutes for the panels to heat up again. Successive flights should not exceed 15 minutes unless it is a new flight block. Wind speed below five m/s, humidity ideally less than 60%.
Irradiance: ≥ 600 Watt/sqm 🔥
Special Considerations for Single-Axis Trackers:
Trackers should be as horizontal as possible, up to a maximum 45-degree tilt. Avoid flying in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is low at the horizon to minimize inter-row glare.Special Considerations for Double-Axis Trackers:
Trackers should be as horizontal as possible, up to a maximum 45-degree tilt. The entire tracker should be visible on at least one photo. Otherwise, increase the altitude.
Example of image alignment
Demonstration when flying with dual camera (H20T, M2EA, XT2...)
A dual-camera system allows thermal and visual data to be recorded simultaneously. The main setting is based on the thermal flight, as the visual recording simply follows the thermal one.
We highly recommend it for Enhanced Flight Quality Performance.
Rooftops
Flying a rooftop? Check out this support article on correctly adapting your flight plan to fly rooftops.
Blocks
To ensure weather conditions are kept homogeneous across the entire solar inspection, sites larger than 5ha should always be divided into blocks.
To ensure a consistent Ground Sample Distance [cm/pixel], sites with more than 10m elevation differences should always be divided into blocks.
Blocks will have to be flown separately.
The Sitemark platform does not let you cut sites into blocks. Reach out to our support team to let them know, and they will cut the site into blocks on your behalf.
Site As-Built
For operations larger than 5 ha, an up-to-date and accurately geo-referenced as-built plan from your solar site should be uploaded on the Sitemark Fuse platform as a site overlay. This is crucial to ensure all of the geospatial data is mapped correctly. You must do this before the confirmation of the operation.
The site as-built needs to meet the following requirements:
It should be recent to match the site as closely as possible.
It must show clear physical reference points, such as roads, buildings, rivers, tables, panels, etc..
It should be accurately scaled so it can be geo-referenced on the map.
It should be uploaded in PDF or DXF as an overlay in Sitemark Fuse.
It should be uploaded before the confirmation of the operation.
It is important that, if there is only a PDF, some site reference points on the as-built must be visible on the satellite image in the platform. So it can be accurately geo-referenced on the map.It should cover all areas that need analysis because areas not covered in the as-built might not be analyzed.
It should not be hand-drawn or low-quality scanned site plans.
Some examples to show a good and a bad as-built plan.
✅ Good - every module is clearly visible
❌ Not good - modules not visible
❌ Not Good - the resolution is too low, meaning we can not use any reference point from the as-built to locate on the map.
If you do not have an as-built from your site available, use the Solar Site As-built data product from Sitemark. We can help you to generate the as-built from your solar site. Please contact your account manager or our support team for more information about this data product.
⚠️ If it's the first solar inspection on a specific site, we strongly recommend ordering a Solar Site As-built to have a high-quality base layer. This will ensure you can enhance all of the features on the Sitemark platform.