# From Detection to Decision: Autonomous Drone-Based Gas Inspection - Event: NestGen ’26 - Published: October 2, 2026 - Length: 28:58 - Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/JxvddGOxfCM/ > The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's > captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms. ## About this session Gas inspection teams need more than a sensor in the air. They need a repeatable way to detect anomalies, understand the risk quickly, and turn field data into decisions without waiting on slow manual checks or disconnected reporting workflows. In this NestGen showcase, BLV Tech will share how autonomous drone-based gas inspection can connect detection, situational awareness, and decision support for teams operating in complex industrial and infrastructure environments. ## Transcript **[0:00]** So hello everyone and welcome with us at this NestGen event 2026. Before we dive in, can you just enter in the chat where you're joining in from? Our speaker here is joining all the way from Shenzhen, the hardware capital of the world, where it's already afternoon. Blair, we're really really glad to have you here. Here's a question for everyone watching. What is that one leak that you can't afford to miss? Methane can't be seen and can't even be smelled from a distance. And regulators are no longer taking, we'll catch it in the next run as an answer. Between the US EPA methane laws, the EU regulations, the OPMG 2.0, the moderators right now have to detect, quantify, and prove it across hundreds of kilometers of pipeline and some of the most hazardous parts of the plant. So what happens when the gas sensor actually gets wings and a dog to come home to? Our next **[1:04]** session, our next guest is Blair from BLB Technology, which was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Shenzhen. It's a gas detection and intelligent inspection company that brings detection hardware and inspection software with the cloud-based data management together in one workflow. Please join me in welcoming Blair Leo, the sales director at PLB Technology, who will take us from detections to decision. Welcome Blair. >> Uh thanks for thanks Oli for the introduction. Uh hello everyone. Uh I'm Blair from BOVAC. Uh welcome to join us in this session. So today I'm going to share the autonomous uh drone based gas inspection solution for the oil and gas industry. So allow me intro. >> Yeah, before we **[2:05]** just uh over to Blair. Before we do that, there are just a couple of things that I wanted to go over. Uh everyone joining in, please feel free to drop all your questions in the chat box. We will get to it after the session ends. And this session will be recorded and published later. Also grab your favorite moments from the session so that you can add it on LinkedIn and Twitter with #ester. Over to you Blair. >> Thank you. So um I'm going to share my slides here. Let me see if you can see it. Can you see the slides here? Yes. >> Okay. So I'll take um uh this presentation where the slides into four parts. Firstly, I will brief introduce our company and then I will talk about why use uh autonomous drone **[3:06]** inspection and uh I will introduce the technology we use for our gas detector and also what platform do we need to for to do for the autonomous uh gas inspection and at the end I will show some case study from our clients in the real scenario. So regarding our company uh we we were founded in 2019 uh headquarter in Shenzhen and our office is very close to DJI headquarter here uh just one block away and uh our company uh we are dedicated to gas detection and especially the intelligence inspection solution like the drone based water uh robot do uh based gas det detector and then also we are DJI econis partner which means uh all of our payload word sensor are highly compatible with DJI drone like the MRI **[4:07]** series and also the doc series and also there is a very good news here as well we just finished the uh integration with uh FlytBase uh with their software so uh after that um if you use our sensor and use their software all the datas will uh integrated in the FlytBase um software site and the cloud platform as well. So before I go to the topic today so uh they might have a question from the audience or from the uh customers. I already had a fixed monitoring system for the gas inspection and also even a handhold gas detector. Then why should we use the smarter gas inspection solution? So here is the reason why. The first one is regarding the regulatory and reporting pressure. Uh especially in European countries and North American **[5:13]** there have the regulations for the meth monitoring uh reports. So you have to do the methium monitoring or the methium inspection. For example like in US EPA the O and C parts they have the regulations for uh the different uh high frequency inspection according to different scenario like different uh or the compressor station or the pipeline they have different uh frequency inspection for that. And secondly, uh, EPA allow you to use the more advanced tech t detection technology especially the drone or the error uh, solutions and then for example also the OGMP 20 uh, 2.1 the reporting. So right now on the level four they need the side source but **[6:14]** on the level uh five you need to have the side source uh mapping inspection. In that case, you will need more advanced for example like the drone to scan the whole sites to get the to uh to get the OGMP level five and also the EU methane regulations for the different um methane monitoring uh scenario as well. For example, they have the compl complimentary uh LDA uh the leakage detection and repair. So you need to have the MIT monitoring word detection process uh as well. And the second one is the workforce safety. Uh as we know for the handhold you need to use the human to walk through the uh potential risky error or the environments. But using the drone or the robotic uh it will it will uh helps you reduce a lot of risk or the explosion to the **[7:20]** risky uh environment. And then thirdly uh is the fra infrastructure complexity. Uh you can see from the pictures here in Hong Kong uh the urban network inspection and also in some uh uh mountain they have the pipeline. You need to do the inspection is very complex. So you have human being cannot meet the requirements. You have to use the drone to scan the pipeline during the mountains. And the fourth is the digital transformation. If you use the drones uh solution, you have all the data uh display or in storage in the uh cloud and also the uh a you don't need the human to take the records on on on the documents or the paper. You have all the process and the data and even we have the AI function for you to do the smarter inspection as well. So this is why **[8:25]** uh you have even you have the handhold or the fixed monitoring system you also need the drone or the smarter gas inspection solution. The after we discuss why uh the smarter inspection uh then let's take to the next step why autonomous drone based inspection. So uh generally speaking work more easily understands it can help you uh reduce the cost and also improve the efficiency and also you don't need uh have a pilot team to fly the drones. If you use the for example like the DJI doc you just uh operate or the whole operation will go through the uh computer or the software. So you don't have you don't need to have a pilot's team to bring all the drones sensors to on site. All everything can be done uh remotely. **[9:27]** So here we use a case a real case uh to illustrate the importance why use the autonomous drone based inspection. So this one is from uh uh 15 kilometer uh lateral gas pipeline inspection in Europe. So we have some data by comparing our uh DJI doc with our sensor the autonomous inspection comparing this one with the traditional manual inspection. For example, we have the uh data here the personnel. If you use the traditional way at least you have you you need to have two inspectors but for the DJI dock the solution you just need one operator and then the inspection duration for the 50 kilo uh lateral gas pipeline it will be you it will take like around two days for the traditional manual inspection **[10:29]** but for using the drone uh maximum on one day. So we help improve the efficiency a lot. So actually you also have uh like the field the transportation the accommodation and meals for the cost and also the safety preparation and the inspection coverage is also different and also the data collection. If you use the traditional way everything will be done uh will were record manually but if you use our solution where the drone uh AI intelligent solution everything will be digital capture and synchronized to the software. So this is the the data to illustrate. Um then we do have a real case and also it's a very typical case by using uh DJI do 3 and our mini solution in the pipeline uh math inspection in Hong Kong. The company is uh Tong Gas. **[11:31]** They are the biggest uh gas distribution in Hong Kong. So, let's take a look uh at a video. Blair, uh, the video isn't visible. >> Uh, can you see the video here? >> No. >> Uh, let me check. **[12:45]** Can you see us from here? >> Yes, we can see it now. >> Can you guys see the here? Yes, I can see the video. Uh, but the voice isn't available. What I can do right now is I can see uh share my screen and we can move on to the next slide until we get this sorted. >> Okay, >> just give me a second. **[13:49]** Perfect. Yeah. Uh, until we get the previous video sorted, we can continue with this queen. Do you want me to play? >> Yes. Can you hear all right? **[15:45]** Yeah. So that's pretty much for the video and uh if you want to see more details uh this video also in our YouTube channel uh you can take a look over there. So let's continue um the topic here. So uh the third part is regarding the detection technonage we use for the sensor. Basically we use the the laser the TDAS and OGI technology. So for the TDAS technology sides um to for your better understanding we release a laser beam and then the laser beam the frequency of laser beam is customized to be only absorbed by methane. So once it go through the gas plume the matine will absorb the laser and then after heat on the reflector it will reflect back uh in that case we will get the concentration number for the meth. So this is the **[16:48]** tilas technology and for the ogi sites uh we put the transparent uh gas into visualize. So from the live test here you can see uh if we can put the uh matting VC gas into visualized format so you can see where is the gas video uh will show more clearly. So in that case you can see uh where is the leakage and also where how big is the the gas flow and for our OGI sensor. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. Do you want me to play the video right now? >> Uh it's okay. You can see the video right? >> Yeah we can see the video. >> It's okay. And then uh this is the what platform needed for the autonomous gas inspection. **[17:54]** So basically we have two segments. One is the ground segments. For example uh we have uh in compar with the traditional handholds you don't need to have a manpower. You can use the uh robot dock uh with our uh sensor uh mount on the on [clears throat] the top of the the robot dock. So you can do the ground level recheck and on air segments you have different solution. If you use DJI uh for example like Matrice the big drone matrice 350 were the 400s then you if you want to do the autonomous you can use the third party docking station to do the autonomous uh inspection and with our payload uh BCH4400 or even the OG sensor uh gas region TD1. So with this uh this one you can do the **[18:54]** autonomous uh gas inspection or the multi- gas uh inspection and then if you don't use the the big drone you you want to use the DJI do 3 then you can uh add our mini sensor uh with flybased software for the whole uh process you can do the uh real time remote monitoring and gas inspection as well. So you can have different uh combo for different scenario. For example uh for the for those era you can fly the small drone then you use DJ dark 3 and for some error you have to use the big one. For example, like the wind is so strong, you can use the matric service and after the drone inspects in the air and for example you get any readings, then you can use the robot dock on the ground level to recheck again. So this is uh go through the whole autonomous gas inspection from the ground **[19:58]** to air >> and this is our uh proven across global industry application like uh as I mentioned we are dedicated to the oil and gas gas inspection. So um we sell worldwide. Our main market right now is Europe and North American markets and some part of Middle East country as well. So we sell to many uh oil and gas company like Saudi Ranco Shell uh some European gas company uh Asia uh South uh Latin American markets as well. So this is also already a proven um solution for the oil and gas industry. And here we have a case study uh from Europe, Hungary uh >> oil and gas pipeline in >> action often involves **[20:59]** >> harsh environments and challenging operating conditions. We recently completed the deployment and commissioning of an unmanned methane inspection solution in Yulan, China. The system combines the DJIM4O drone platform with the AROS's drone hanger integrated with the Blood Beltch for 400 laser methane detector for routine autonomous inspections using proven to loss technology. The system enables long range, non-cont methane detection with real-time data transmission. Paired with a smart hanger, it supports automated takeoff, autonomous flight missions, and remote operations with minimal human intervention. Compared with traditional manual inspections, the solution helps reduce high-risisk fieldwork, improve, >> sorry. >> Uh, can you see the video here? >> Yes. >> This one? >> Yes. Everyone is able to see the video blur with the audio. **[22:05]** >> Oil and gas pipe and detect potential methane leaks faster. BLV a global leader in airborne gas detection solutions. Oil and gas pipeline in Uh Blair, thank you so much for the presentation. Uh can you see the screen that we've shared? >> Yes. >> Perfect. Uh so I there are a couple of questions that people have asked. So they are asking what does the output actually look like? Like is it a heat map or is it a report with coordinates? What what is the end result that they get? uh at the end you can generate a report automatically. So in the report you will have the hidden map and uh every time if we get any reading you will hear the an alarm. So we will also record the norm **[23:07]** uh the time the concentration number and also the distance uh flying attitudes and also a picture to natural where we get the readings and also the wind speed as well. >> Perfect. Uh Arjun is asking is there an altitude limit that the drone has to maintain to do the gas inspection or does this altitude limitation interfere with the drone performance parameters? >> So the attitude limits uh comes from our sensor not from the the drone. For example, uh we have different uh series the mini to the the big one the detection range uh from 70 m to 300 m according to different uh product series. >> Perfect. And um another of our joiner is asking now they do already have an **[24:10]** LD L system and how do you integrate with it or do they have to kind of you know get to your system? >> Uh there are two ways to integrate the data. uh you can get our MQTT and you get the data through the MT MQTT and also another way is uh you can you can drag our cloud or all the page to your soft to your software. So there are two ways to gather the data or do the integration. >> Amazing. And uh last question there Sergio is asking can the BLV solution quantify the exact CH4 volume from a source. So like are they measurement that are ISO accredated? >> Yeah, good question. So the the data we got uh from TDS the technology is the PP uh ppm. **[25:12]** If you want to quantify like the leak rates, we operate, we cooperate with a third-party software company. You can just uh import our data into their software and then in their software you can do the uh quantify quantification automatically. So you will get the leak rates uh automatically from the third party software. >> Perfect. U and we will take one last question. So now you know we had this entire presentation and you helped us understand how the detections take place. Our user is asking now that the decision part comes to play what does it look like in practice? Right? So maybe a case study where a customer has used Yeah. where a customer has done the detection. what does the end result take place look like for them? >> Uh so um after we do the cuz we talk about detection to decision. So after we do **[26:19]** the detection whether there is no leakage and then you don't need any uh second step the last step because everything is fine there is no leakage uh is safe there and then whether you get any reading for example and you get different level of the reading and then you will take the next step for example you get the lower reading for example 200 or 300 ppm then there is a the in the normal uh level then you just maybe want one person to look around that facility for example like the pipeline or the compressed stage you will have a look people to look around and make sure uh it's in the control and whether you get higher concentration for example like over a th00and or 10,000 ppm And then you will see the minor uh leakage and in that case you will **[27:23]** need a person where uh for example like the robot uh do ground level to check it again and then you fight the leakage and then you need to do the maintenance for those facility. So that's the the the next decision you need to make after the um drone with autonomous inspection. Perfect. That's amazing because based on the concentration and the detection quantity, the decision should change for uh you know efficient solutions. Thank you so much Blair. That was a great way to see how a sensor on a drone can turn into a decision on the ground. And uh to everyone listening, if you would like to keep the conversation going, BLV is at blvgeeotech.com and [snorts] you can reach out to on this email or uh on Blair's LinkedIn that will be shared. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you guys. **[28:23]** If you are interested more details u please feel free to contact us or you can find more interesting video in our YouTube channel. Perfect. Thank you everyone for joining us everyone. >> Yeah, Blair. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Blair. Uh everyone joining in the session, this session ends but the next uh session starts in a couple of minutes. So see you there. Bye-bye.