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UTM Payload

The inspector’s extended arm.

Dock once. Clean. Couple. Measure. One operation.

More coverage, more measurements, more confidence from the same NDT team. No technician needs to enter the confined space. Live readings on the dedicated tablet running Scout Companion, class-ready data the moment the flight ends.

Dockings per refill: 50 – 100

Climbing required: Zero

Steel thickness: 1 – 150 mm

Coating tolerance: Up to 6 mm

Dockings per refill: 50 – 100

Climbing required: Zero

Steel thickness: 1 – 150 mm

Coating tolerance: Up to 6 mm

Until now, drone-based UT was point-sampling without surface prep.

Cleaning, couplant, and a lab-grade probe — working together as one tool in a single flight, on the same spot.

Motorised brush

Clean acoustic contact — gentlest tool first.

A good reading needs clean acoustic contact between probe and metal; the enemy is air, trapped in rust, oxide, coatings and paint. The motorised brush varies speed to the contamination, and three tool groups of increasing abrasive effect ship with the payload — ScoutBrush SiC (light cleaning), ScoutBrush Metal (rust and scale, field-verified through ISO 8501 grade C), and ScoutSleeve abrasive sleeves (hardened coatings, heavy oxide).

Start with the gentlest head that gives a usable A-scan and step up only when needed — the abrasive sleeves cut into the substrate itself if overused. Heads swap in seconds, so one payload preps any surface the plan calls for.

Couplant gel

Contact sensor

Class 2 laser

Unlimited flight time

Underway evaluation

See before you dock

Couplant gel

Contact sensor

Swap probes to match the job.

The Thornetix Talisman high-speed, multi-channel embedded ultrasound module ships with three dual-crystal probes included: 2.25 MHz for thick, coarse or rough surfaces, 5 MHz general-purpose, and 7.5 MHz for thin material. An optional three-probe single-crystal pack is available, and single, twin, delay-line and high-temperature designs are supported.

Full in-flight control through Scout Companion: gain and gates, all tunable while the payload stays on the wall; no landing to change a setting.

Overhead bulkheads to vertical walls. One payload reaches both.

Four corner magnets clamp the payload to the steel and hold it steady — no thrust fighting wind, no operator vibration in the reading. The spring-loaded carbon-fibre pivot then articulates through 110° of sweep: the probe presses overhead bulkheads and overhangs (the −20° end), then re-orients without landing to read vertical hull plates, tank walls, and angled stiffeners (the +90° end).

Once docked, an integrated wiggle shifts the probe up to 5 mm up or down without releasing the magnets — nudge past a rust patch, a cavity or an inclusion without re-attaching, re-cleaning, or losing the location.

Inspectors who run a 5-day campaign on rope often re-rig three times for different orientations. This payload re-orients in-flight.

UT probe

Work to the inspection, not to a battery clock.

Continuous tethered power turns every flight into a deliberate, verifiable session — no battery swaps, no racing the clock.

Unlimited flight time

Tethered power means no battery clock. With anti-collision sensors switched off for surface contact, you focus on careful, safe manoeuvring — and keep working until the couplant reservoir needs refilling, not until a battery dies.

Underway evaluation

Every flight is a live verification session: the 4K preview, the live A-scan in Scout Companion and continuous flight-path rendering confirm data quality and coverage while you’re still on site. Catch a weak signal or a missed area before you leave — and avoid a costly second mobilisation.

See before you dock

The integrated 3.5× optical zoom lets the pilot study corrosion, coatings and surface condition from a safe stand-off, and review 4K photos, before committing to a docking attempt.

The people who designed it, walking you through it.

Four steps. Two tablets. One extended arm.

One payload, two dedicated tablets. Scout Companion runs the UT workflow: A-scan, gates and pre-flight calibration on one screen. Scout Operator (with the drone) runs the flight. Split between two specialists, or run solo across both screens.

01 Aim

Pilot flies Scout 137 to the target via Scout Operator; laser sight marks the landing spot. The arm flexes −20° to +90°, reaching vertical walls, overhead bulkheads, and angled stiffeners. NDT technician follows on Scout Companion’s 4K view, toggles to the UT view at contact. Same coordinates every revisit.

02 Prepare

Pilot triggers the brush. Variable-speed motor cleans with the right head; couplant gel deploys at the probe tip. Pilot controls clean time, from light dust through rust grade C. Up to 100 dispenses per flight.

03 Contact

Probe auto-contacts the surface once gel is deployed. Contact sensor confirms, drone trims hover, live A-scan trace appears in Scout Companion. Auto-gates and auto-gain lock the signal; Multi-Echo reads through coatings up to 6 mm. NDT technician tunes gain, gate, and delay mid-flight if needed. Need to dodge a rust patch or inclusion? Wiggle the probe up to 5 mm — without releasing the magnets.

04 Log

Each reading is logged in the flight dataset with its timestamp and position on the LiDAR map. Upload the flight to Scout Portal, then generate class-ready reports.

“We do lots of chemical tankers, and for such cases UT on a drone is brilliant — they are much cleaner than oil tankers, so you don’t have to scrape off the thick residue. You can in fact do the entire job just using the drone.”

Simon Ruddick Director Marine Inspection Services

Scout 137 UTM Payload

Specifications

Probe & module

UT module: Thornetix Talisman
Probe types supported: Single - twin - delay-line - high-temperature
Standard probe: 5.0 MHz dual-crystal (general purpose)
Extra probes: 2.25 MHz dual-crystal (thick / rough) 7.5 MHz dual-crystal (thin / small)

Surface prep & couplant

Surface preparation: Built-in spot-prep tool ScoutBrush SiC / ScoutBrush Metal / ScoutSleeve abrasive sleeves (light → heavy)
Qualified rust grade: ISO 8501 — rust grade C
Couplant: Water-soluble gel (e.g. Chemetall UCA-2M)
Couplant capacity: 33 ml reservoir 50–100 dockings between refills

Measurement

Thickness range: 1 – 150 mm (material-dependent)
Measurement angles: −20° to +90°
Measurement modes: Peak Edge Multi-Echo coating exclusion (Modes 1, 2, 3 per ISO 16809)
Coating tolerance (Multi-Echo): Up to 6 mm — reads through coatings without surface removal
Accuracy: < 0.1 mm or ±1 %
Resolution: 0.001 mm
Measurement gates: 2, manual or automatic
Fine adjustment: Wiggle — probe shifts up to 5 mm without releasing the magnets

Calibration & operations

Calibration standard: Factory tested & calibrated to ISO 16831 / EN 15317
Field calibration: 1- and 2-point via the app
Aiming: Laser-aided probe visible through the main 4K camera
Live confirmation: Operator sees the reading during flight
Repeat measurements: Supported logged with location tag

Signal & data

Gain: Up to 80 dB
Digitiser: 80 MHz sampling rate
A-scan sampling: 30 Hz full waveforms logged for review
A-scan resolution: 8-bit
Sampling rate: Up to 100 MHz

Mount & compatibility

Compatibility: Scout 137 Gen 3 standard payload bay
Payload weight: 435 g (detachable arm)
Probe attachment: Magnetic
Release mechanism: One-click Smart Release

The UTM Payload lives in the same platform as the rest.

See the UTM payload in action.

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