Drone Imagery Assessment for Property Damage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Assessing property damage, especially after disasters, is challenging due to unreliable data connections, leading to delayed insurance payments for property repairs or replacements.
Innovation Solution
A property damage assessment system utilizing drones equipped with imaging equipment and a controller that processes imagery data locally or remotely to automatically collect and assess damage, including instructions for the operator to maintain line of sight, enabling rapid and efficient damage evaluation and insurance payment initiation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional property damage assessment methods are used following disasters, then assessors can evaluate property conditions, but data connection unreliability causes undue delays in receiving insurance payments
Solution Approach 1:
The drone system performs self-assessment of property damage by autonomously capturing imagery data, processing it through onboard or remote computing resources, and generating assessment reports without requiring human assessors to physically visit the disaster area. This self-service capability eliminates delays caused by unreliable data connections at assessment sites while maintaining accurate evaluation of property conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system conducts damage assessment immediately after disasters occur by deploying drones to capture imagery data before data connection issues prevent traditional assessment methods. By performing the assessment action preliminarily and autonomously, the system overcome s the subsequent delays in insurance payment processing that would otherwise occur due to communication unreliability.
2Productivity
If drones are equipped with autonomous imaging and processing capabilities, then damage assessment speed increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drone system divides the damage assessment functionality into separate modular components: imaging equipment for data collection, onboard processing units for initial analysis, and remote computing resources for comprehensive assessment. This segmentation allows the drone to perform autonomous assessment while distributing system complexity across multiple independent modules that can be developed and maintained separately.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that bridges the drone's imaging capabilities and the final damage assessment output. This intermediary layer, which can be onboard processing or remote computing, handles the complex image analysis and assessment algorithms, allowing the drone itself to remain relatively simple while achieving high assessment speed through the intermediary's computational power.
Data Source
AI summary
A property damage assessment system may include a drone including imaging equipment and a controller, which may include a device processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions to perform the following steps: receiving imagery data, from a first vantage point, of property from the imaging equipment of the drone; making a determination, by analyzing the received imagery data, that there is damage to the property; and based on the determination that there is damage to the property, automatically controlling the drone to obtain additional imagery data of the property, wherein automatically controlling the drone to obtain additional imagery data includes repositioning the drone to obtain a different view of a portion of the property by moving the drone to a second vantage point located a different distance from the property or a second vantage point located at a different angle with respect to the property.