Major telecommunications construction company MIRAIT ONE Corporation (head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President and Chief Executive Officer: Toshiki Nakayama; "MIRAIT ONE") received an order from the Aichi Prefecture Nishimikawa Water Works Office for an inspection of water piping on the Kinnura Bridge with a span of 412 meters to the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture, making it one of the largest bridges in the prefecture, and implemented a drone-based inspection in March 2023.

Since the collapse of the Musota Water Pipe Bridge that occurred in Wakayama Prefecture in October 2021, inspections of water pipes serving as important lifelines has become a pressing issue for water suppliers. MIRAIT ONE has performed implemented drone-based water bridge inspections since before the incident with MIRAIT ONE's Group company MiratecDrone Corp., established drone-based inspection methods and confirmed the effectiveness of water pipe inspections.

Water pipes are not equipped with permanent scaffolding to provide direct access, and temporary scaffolding installation, inspections using rope access present difficulties in terms of cost and safety. As a result, drone-based inspections were considered. However, water pipes are hung directly below bridges and stable flight by ordinary drones is difficult due to the inability to obtain satellite information. For this reason, the inspection was conducted using Skydio*1, which enables flight in a non-GPS*2 environment. Furthermore, the length of the bridge is over 400 meters and the wind was strong on the day of the inspection, making it a highly difficult flight, but areas of deterioration and rust were able to be thoroughly found.

MIRAIT ONE is promoting secure, safe and smart future urban development initiatives, and will also broadly implement drone-based inspections for buildings and infrastructure facilities other than water pipes. MIRAIT ONE will continue to meet customers expectations and contribute to the realization of an enriched society through solutions to issues with social infrastructure.


＜About MIRAIT ONE Corporation＞
MIRAIT ONE Corporation was launched on July 1, 2022 through the integration of MIRAIT Holdings Corporation, MIRAIT Corporation, and MIRAIT Technologies Corporation. MIRAIT ONE has established "co-creating an exciting future through challenges and technology" as its purpose (significance of existence), and is engaged in the resolution of issues faced by customers and society and regional revitalization by promoting initiatives such as urban development and regional development, corporate DX and GX, green business and global business based on the technical capability cultivated until now in telecommunications facility construction and the civil engineering business.

*1 GPS: Global Positioning System
*2 Skydio: A non-GPS drone sold by US drone manufacturer Skydio.



　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Launching the drone

　　　　　　　　　　Inspecting the pipe hung under the bridge