ATOM is a spin-off of the company AEROTOOLS and is located in Lugo. It started in 2021 under the Aero Business Factory, an initiative of the Galician Regional Government that, within the Aerospace Pole, provides infrastructure and resources for aeronautical projects and unmanned vehicles, offering three itineraries depending on what phase an initiative is in: incubation, acceleration and consolidation.

As the company's CEO, Miguel Rosa, explains, ATOM is "an innovative solution for the inspection of industrial assets". Specifically, the firm bases its current activity on the use of drones to capture data from photovoltaic power stations, which are subsequently processed and inspected. The tool is already being used by companies and power stations in Spain as well as in 12 other countries.

Boosting the Aero Business Factory

During the acceleration phase at the Business Factory Aero, in which they participated in 2021, they adjusted the business plan and started the search for investors.

Having finished that process, the tool now needs more advanced functions, such as artificial intelligence, which is why it is already part of the consolidation process of the fourth edition of the accelerator, with the aim of achieving greater technological development of its products and gaining a wider international presence.

In this new stage they will work to identify areas that need specific development in order to enter Industry 4.0 and to be able to offer the service to other sectors as well. Currently the work is focused on photovoltaic power plants, and with these new developments they could also be included on roads, bridges, roofs or in harbours.

The second objective is to consolidate the commercial area through a greater presence in other countries. "The idea is to make accelerated progress in a short period of time, four months, and establish a solid foundation for the future of the company," summarises Miguel Rosa.

From their start, alone or as partners of other companies to which they have contributed their know-how, they have managed to provide the service in countries such as Australia, Chile, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Morocco, Greece, Panama, Romania and Uzbekistan.

How ATOM works

With the help of drones, ATOM carries out a thermographic inspections to measure the temperature of the solar panels along with other parameters. The drone takes images of the panels and uses this data to analyse whether there are any modules with incidents, manufacturing defects, assembly defects, damage caused by inclement weather (such as hail) or birds, which can lead to a decrease in the plant's energy production.

"We systematise the inspection process," explains Miguel Rosa, which makes it possible to plan drone flights at photovoltaic power plants, even if they are large, and to do so in a minimal amount of flight time over the plant. They operate in plants from one megawatt to 300 megawatts and can be above ground or on rooftops.

The drone they use weighs between 5 and 6 kg, is a multi-rotor type with vertical take-off and has a built-in thermal camera and an RGB (visual) camera. Flight operations on a 300 megawatt plant can take about a week, while data analysis takes 15 days. It is a process that plants perform on an annual basis and that allows them to improve their business intelligence and reduce time and costs, because if a plant has incidents it generates less electrical energy, which has an impact on revenues.