Wind Turbine Inspection Software - PDG Helicopters

PDG Helicopters provides aviation services across a wide range of sectors, including specialist operations that demand precision, safety, and reliability. PDG approached Inflecto to design and build a platform to manage and perform windfarm turbine inspections — bringing together mission planning, in‑flight data capture, and efficient delivery of results to customers.

The challenge

Turbine inspections generate large volumes of images and telemetry, often captured in demanding conditions where speed and accuracy matter. PDG needed a solution that could:

• Plan and configure inspection jobs ahead of time
• Support reliable in‑flight operation onboard a helicopter
• Capture images alongside relevant telemetry and inspection context
• Integrate with specialist camera hardware to speed up target acquisition
• Process imagery efficiently after the flight and distribute outputs to customers

What we delivered

A complete inspection platform combining a cloud-based management system, an onboard Windows application (“Mission Manager”), and supporting cloud services for processing and delivery.

Cloud-based management platform (web)

We built a web-based system to manage inspection operations end-to-end, including:

• Planning and configuring upcoming jobs
• Managing job data and inspection parameters
• Coordinating workflows across teams before and after flights
• Providing a structured foundation for processing and customer delivery

Mission Manager (Windows, onboard)

We developed a Windows-based application called Mission Manager, designed to run onboard the helicopter during the survey. Mission Manager supports the operational realities of inspection flights, enabling:

• Selection of the turbine being inspected
• Capture of inspection imagery during flight
• Collection of in-flight telemetry and association of that telemetry with the images and the turbine blade currently being surveyed
• A workflow designed for speed and clarity for the operator

Cloud services for processing and dissemination

To complete the loop from capture to customer, we implemented cloud services to:

• Further process inspection images after capture
• Organise and structure inspection outputs
• Disseminate the relevant information to PDG’s customers efficiently

PDG Promo Video

Integration with SHOTOVER Systems

Inflecto worked closely with SHOTOVER Systems to integrate with the airframe camera system. This integration enables the operator to choose a turbine and have the camera automatically target it, helping the crew quickly locate the correct turbine and maintain inspection pace.

By combining camera targeting with telemetry capture and contextual linking (turbine + blade + image), the platform supports a more repeatable, traceable inspection workflow — improving the quality and usability of the results delivered to customers.