Certified Report, Professional Opinion or Data Review
Three Ways We Report on Thermal Data You Captured
Drone Media Imaging reports on thermal data captured by drone operators, solar contractors and inspection firms on one of three routes. A Certified Report where the data and the capture evidence support it, a Professional Opinion where they do not or where you prefer it, and a Data Review when you want the data screened before committing. The route is agreed in the quotation, never assumed.
Three Ways We Report on Thermal Data You Captured
You have flown the site and the thermal data is on your drive. What you can do with it next depends on one thing: what the data, and the way it was captured, can support. That is why our report writing service is offered on three routes rather than one.
A Certified Report is our default wherever the data qualifies. Where it does not, or where you ask for it, the same Level 3 analysis is issued as a Professional Opinion. Where you simply want to know whether the data is worth taking further, a Data Review screens it for your own use.
The route is stated in our quotation before any work begins, and it changes only with your agreement. This page explains what each route gives you, who may rely on it, and what we need from you for a report to be certified.
Three Routes for Your Thermal Data
What you receive, and who may rely on it
A Certified Report is a signed report issued under the Drone Media Imaging name. It states that the findings are a defensible Level 3 analysis that we stand behind, within the scope and limitations the report sets out. You, and the parties the report names, may rely on it, and it is the route to use where an insurer, a warranty provider or a compliance requirement is involved. On data you captured, certification covers the analysis and its interpretation. It does not certify the survey itself, its scope or its completeness.
A Professional Opinion is the same analysis, by the same Level 3 thermographer, to the same standard of care and at the same fee. The difference is the burden of proof, not the quality of the work. The findings are the thermographer’s expert interpretation of the data supplied and are not attested to the certified standard, with the reason stated. You receive a signed Opinion Record for your use alone and, where you are writing your own report, un-named working text to build on. It is not for insurance, warranty or compliance use.
A Data Review is a screening. It tells you what in the data appears worth attention, and what the data would need before it could support an opinion. It gives no classification and no severity, nothing is attested, and it is for your own use at your own risk. It is chosen at the outset and has its own lower fee, paid on order.
Whichever route applies, it is written into the quotation, so you know what you will receive before you commit.
At a glance
The three report writing routes, what each one gives you and what decides between them.
- Certified Report, the default. A defensible Level 3 analysis that Drone Media Imaging stands behind, within the scope and limitations it states. Suitable for insurance, warranty and compliance use.
- Professional Opinion. The same analysis, by the same Level 3 thermographer, to the same standard of care and at the same fee, but not certified, with the reason stated. For your use alone.
- Data Review. A screening of the data you supply, for your own use. It carries no opinion and no certification, and has its own lower fee.
- The data decides. Certification needs data that can support the findings, and evidence of how that data was captured.
- Solar PV needs a signed protocol. Every solar capture intended for certification is flown to our Data Collection Protocol, whoever flies it.
- Our name travels with the signed document. Signed documents may be passed on only complete and unaltered.
The same thermographer and the same care on every route. What changes is what the data lets us stand behind.
Related Solar Survey Services
What a Certified Report Needs
Evidence of capture, agreed before you fly
Certification is a statement about the data and the analysis together, so we need evidence of how the data was captured as well as the data itself. What that evidence looks like depends on who captured it and what the subject is.
For solar PV, the capture is always flown to a Data Collection Protocol that you sign before the survey, whoever the pilot is and whatever thermography qualification they hold. The protocol sets out the conditions the survey has to meet, and the data comes back with a signed data return declaration and a log of any deviations. On other subjects, a pilot who is not a thermographer works to a signed protocol in the same way, while a thermographer qualified to Level 1 or above signs a statement of conformance with each submission.
The data must also be sufficient to support the findings, which means the original, unedited thermal files rather than screenshots or exported pictures.
Camera calibration does not decide the route. Most drone thermal cameras cannot be calibrated by the user and hold no certificate, and the report states that as a limitation. Where a camera can be calibrated, the date of its calibration is shown as a record.
If the site has already been flown without a protocol, tell us. A Professional Opinion or a Data Review may still give you what you need, and we will say plainly which routes are open before we quote.
Thermographic inspection, analysis and reporting are carried out by a Drone Media Imaging ITC Level III Certified Master Thermographer (Infrared Training Centre; Certification #205722059), practising in accordance with the frameworks of ISO 18436-7:2014, ASNT SNT-TC-1A and ANSI/ASNT CP-105, and BINDT CMGEN Appendix B (UK training governance). Inspection methodology is aligned with IEC 62446-3:2017 (solar PV) and BS EN ISO 6781-1:2023 (building envelopes) as applicable.
On data captured by a third party, certification covers the analysis and its interpretation only. Drone Media Imaging is a trading name of VisualChaos Studios Ltd.
How Signed Documents Are Used
The Drone Media Imaging name, and the certification of its Level 3 thermographer, appear only in the documents we sign. A Certified Report and an Opinion Record are issued as digitally signed PDFs, and they may be passed on only complete and unaltered. That protects you as much as it protects us, because anyone who receives the document can see that it is exactly what was issued.
If you produce reports under your own brand, the Professional Opinion route is built for it. The working text we supply carries no name and no credential, so you can use it in your own report. You are the author of that report and responsible for it, and it does not present our findings as certified or name us as their source. Where your client needs our certification, the Certified Report goes to them as issued, complete and unaltered.
We keep a record of the data we received and of every document we issue, so a report can be verified later if it is ever questioned.
Your client relationship stays yours on every route. We report to you, and we do not approach your customer.
Tell Us What You Have Flown
Tell us the subject, who captured the data and what the report has to satisfy, whether that is your own client, an insurer or a warranty provider. If you have not flown yet, say so, and the Data Collection Protocol comes to you first, which keeps the Certified route open. If the data is already captured and you are not sure what it can support, ask, and we will tell you which routes are open before we quote. Scope decides cost on this work, so we quote each job, and quotations are free.
