Unlike open environments, confined spaces are structurally complex: walls, ceilings, floors, beams, protrusions, corners and assorted structural members are packed closely together. When a drone flies near structures, passes through narrow openings or inspects complicated assets, relying on the live sensor field of view alone still leaves a risk of impact once an obstacle slips into a blind spot.
To further improve the safety and controllability of the Scout 137 in complex enclosed environments, ScoutDI has introduced Virtual Cage in software version 2.4.0. Using the 3D environment map built by the drone, the function creates a virtual protective zone around the Scout 137, helping the aircraft continuously sense and avoid walls, structures and obstacles that have already been mapped — an additional layer of collision protection during inspection flights.
What is Virtual Cage?
Conventional collision-avoidance systems generally depend on what the LiDAR can "see" at a given moment. If an obstacle temporarily leaves the sensor's field of view, or enters a LiDAR blind spot, the system's awareness of that obstacle can degrade.
Virtual Cage goes a step further. Once the Scout 137 has scanned an area, the drone remembers the position of walls, ceilings, floors, structural members and obstacles based on the accumulated 3D environment map. Even when those obstacles are temporarily outside the live LiDAR view, they remain part of the avoidance logic as long as they were previously detected and mapped.
The result is a virtual protective cage around the drone. It helps prevent unintended contact with objects that have already been mapped, making confined-space inspection safer, steadier and easier to control.
Why the function matters
The difficulty of confined-space inspection lies in fast-changing surroundings, densely packed obstacles and limited room to manoeuvre. In flight, beams, protrusions, corners and structural members can move into LiDAR blind spots as the drone changes position. Once they are no longer within the sensor's field of view, a conventional collision-avoidance system may temporarily lose awareness of them.
Virtual Cage solves this by drawing on the accumulated 3D scan of the environment. If the drone has already identified an obstacle, it can keep avoiding it even when that obstacle is momentarily out of LiDAR view.
For pilots, this adds a layer of safety assistance when flying in complex spaces. For inspection work, it helps reduce the risk of equipment collisions, interrupted operations and repeat inspections.
Adjustable safety margins for different scenarios
Different inspection scenarios call for different clearances. The size of the Virtual Cage protective zone can be adjusted to the application:
- Where space is relatively generous, a larger clearance can be set to give the drone a more conservative safety buffer;
- Where passage is tight, a smaller clearance allows the drone to complete the inspection while remaining safe.
When a pilot command would bring the drone into contact with a mapped obstacle, the aircraft automatically resists the input, helping maintain a safe separation from surrounding structures. The design keeps the operator in control while providing clearer safety boundaries for inspection in complex spaces.
Closing thoughts
Virtual Cage adds a further layer of collision protection for the Scout 137 through 3D environment mapping, obstacle memory and adjustable safety margins. It not only lowers collision risk in complex spaces, but also makes industrial drone inspection safer, more convenient and more controllable.
As spatial awareness and intelligent assistance continue to advance, confined-space inspection will move further from "high-risk human entry" toward unmanned entry, digital data capture and intelligent assistance. Tecway Maritime will continue to follow ScoutDI industrial drone applications across ships, offshore structures, storage tanks and industrial facilities, and to provide clients with safer, more efficient and more digital drone inspection solutions.