Every survey begins before the aircraft leaves the ground. IEC 62446-3 sets the conditions under which thermal data means anything at all: sufficient irradiance, low enough wind, and cloud stable enough that module temperatures are not moving while you photograph them. Fly outside those conditions and the imagery can look entirely convincing while proving nothing.

Drone Media Imaging assesses those conditions against a calibrated forecast model before mobilising, so a survey is flown when it can produce a defensible result rather than when the diary happens to be free. Environmental readings are logged on site at the start and end of the flight and carried into the report, so the conditions the data was captured under are part of the evidence rather than an assumption.

Capture is flown to a controlled ground sample distance, with the flight path set perpendicular to the array and the radiometric parameters, emissivity and reflected apparent temperature corrected for the day. Radiometric thermal and high-resolution RGB imagery are collected together, so every anomaly can be checked against what the module physically looks like rather than inferred from heat alone.

Analysis then runs module by module and string by string. Each anomaly is compared with a healthy reference module inside the same thermogram, classified for severity against the standard’s own categories, and located precisely enough for someone to walk straight to it. Findings are presented as areas warranting further investigation by a suitably qualified contractor, with the order of priority made explicit.

Flying a drone over an array is a capture task, and a competent pilot can be trained to do it well. Deciding what the resulting thermal data means, and being able to defend that conclusion when it is challenged, is a different discipline entirely. IEC 62446-3 makes the point in its own words: a simplified inspection cannot produce authoritative conclusions regarding module quality, and training on the infrared camera provided by its manufacturer is not sufficient.

This is where most of the UK market sits. CAA certification proves an operator can fly legally and safely. It says nothing whatever about whether they can read a thermogram, and several providers state plainly in their own terms that interpreting the results is the client’s responsibility. If your report has to survive a warranty claim or an insurer’s question, that is the wrong place for the analysis to stop.

Drone Media Imaging carries the analysis itself. Surveys are interpreted by our ITC Level III Certified Master Thermographer, practising in accordance with the frameworks of ISO 18436-7:2014, ASNT SNT-TC-1A and ANSI/ASNT CP-105, with methodology aligned to IEC 62446-3:2017.

There is a second reason to look at who is holding the camera. Where the purpose of an inspection is fire prevention, IEC 62446-3 states that testing personnel should be independent of the owner or operator. An O&M contractor inspecting the installation it maintains is not independent, however good its intentions. We have no stake in what the survey finds, which is precisely what makes the finding worth something.