Amsterdam, September 29, 2016 – One of the world's first automated inspections by an intelligent drone with deep learning capabilities was demonstrated at the GPU Technology Conference Europe today by Aerialtronics, a Dutch manufacturer of technologically advanced drones, Neurala, a pioneer in deep learning software, and NVIDIA, the world leader in GPU-accelerated computing. This new "intelligent drone" identifies objects and their condition in flight, which dramatically increases the efficiency and accuracy of documenting assets, lowering costs, and making it easier for frequent inspections. It adds to the use of commercial drones to help businesses access difficult and dangerous areas, such as cell towers and turbines. The resulting system can visually inspect a cell tower and recognize the equipment mounted on the mast. This is the first step required to start automating the documentation of assets, and assessing the mechanical functionality and condition of the cell tower to identify rust and other defects.

Ultimately, Aerialtronics, via Watson, will be able to measure cell phone tower signals as well as conduct antenna position analytics. IBM's Watson is getting into the commercial drone market in a deal with Aerialtronics, a Netherlands-based maker of unmanned aircraft systems. Aerialtronics is using IBM's Watson Internet of Things (IoT) platform for inspection services across a wide range of industries. Under the deal, Watson will connect its visual recognition application programming interfaces, IBM's cloud, drones and high-definition cameras to perform inspections on assets such as wind turbines, oil rigs, and cell towers. The general idea is that drones can do the visual inspections so humans don't' have to climb towers.