Author: Kirill Filippov
Founder & CEO, FlyScope
Date: December 2025
1. Challenges of Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Urban infrastructure across the European Union is under simultaneous pressure from several long-term structural factors. Each of these challenges is critical on its own, but together they form a systemic crisis for traditional infrastructure maintenance models.
1.1. Aging Infrastructure and Growing Load
A significant share of infrastructure assets in EU countries was built between the 1960s and the 1990s and has now exceeded its original design lifespan. These assets operate under conditions that were not anticipated during design and are experiencing accelerated degradation due to increasing intensity of use.
This concerns street lighting systems and poles, bridges and overpasses, telecommunications towers and antennas, road cameras and information displays, solar panels, and elements of distributed energy.
At the same time, infrastructure is not shrinking—it continues to grow. The expansion of 5G, Smart City programs, IoT deployments, and distributed energy leads to an exponential increase in the number of assets that require regular inspection and maintenance. The number of assets is growing faster than the capacity of traditional inspection methods.
1.2. Workforce Shortages and Rising Service Costs
Across many EU countries, a persistent shortage has formed of specialists willing to perform work at height and in demanding conditions. At the same time, the cost of industrial climbing services, certified contractors, and insurance coverage is rising.
Work at height is becoming less attractive for workers, more expensive for asset owners, and riskier from a legal liability perspective. For municipalities and infrastructure operators this is especially critical, as maintenance budgets are typically limited and fixed in advance.
1.3. Strengthening Requirements for Safety and ESG
EU regulatory policy is consistently tightening requirements related to occupational safety, risk minimization for personnel, environmental performance of processes, and transparency of reporting.
The use of heavy machinery, aerial lifts, and manual labor at height increases the carbon footprint, requires road closures, creates risks for third parties, and aligns poorly with ESG strategies. Municipalities are increasingly required to justify every operation in terms of safety, environmental impact, and public disruption.
1.4. Rising Requirements for Inspection Frequency and Quality
Modern infrastructure requires more frequent checks, standardized reports, and comparable data over time. One-off visual inspections do not allow failure prediction, assessment of degradation rates, or accurate maintenance budget planning.
Without digital data and automated analytics, infrastructure management becomes reactive and inefficient, with decisions made only after incidents occur.
2. Limitations of Traditional Inspection Methods
Despite the scale of these challenges, in many EU countries infrastructure inspection is still performed using methods that have hardly changed for decades.
2.1. High Cost and Low Scalability
Traditional inspection involves the use of aerial lifts or cranes, a crew of several people, permits and approvals, traffic closures, manual photo documentation, and subsequent report preparation.
This model scales poorly to thousands or tens of thousands of assets, requires full repetition of the cycle for each inspection round, and becomes economically inefficient as infrastructure grows. Inspecting a single telecom tower can cost from €1,000 to €2,500, while total annual costs for operators and cities reach hundreds of millions and even billions of euros.
2.2. Risks to Personnel and Third Parties
Work at height remains one of the most dangerous categories of technical maintenance. Falls, electric shock, adverse weather, and working near active traffic create persistent risk.
Even with compliance procedures, the human factor remains the key cause of incidents. This directly contradicts modern occupational safety and ESG requirements.
2.3. Low Repeatability and Lack of Standardization
Manual inspections depend on the individual specialist and their subjective assessment. Different report formats are used, different defect-recording methods apply, and there is no unified standard for comparing data over time.
As a result, it becomes difficult to control change dynamics, conduct audits, and build long-term maintenance plans. Infrastructure is formally inspected, but in practice it is not systematically analyzed.
2.4. Reactive Maintenance Model
Traditional methods are oriented toward identifying problems after they occur. Repairs are performed in emergency mode, leading to downtime, unplanned expenses, penalties, and reputational losses.
Minor defects—such as corrosion, loosened fasteners, or equipment contamination—often go unnoticed until they escalate into a critical issue.
2.5. Misalignment with Smart City Digital Strategies
Manual inspection methods do not integrate into smart city digital platforms, do not generate machine-readable data, and do not support automated maintenance planning.
As a result, cities invest in Smart City, IoT, and digital twins, while the key layer—physical infrastructure—remains outside the digital management loop.
Traditional methods for inspecting urban infrastructure in the EU are becoming too expensive, dangerous, and poorly scalable. They do not meet modern ESG, Smart City, and predictive asset management requirements.
This creates an objective and already established demand for automated solutions where drones and AI are not an alternative, but a necessary element of sustainable infrastructure policy.
3. The FlyScope Approach and Solutions
FlyScope will be developed as a comprehensive platform for automating inspection and maintenance of urban and critical infrastructure, rather than as a standalone drone service or an isolated software product. At the core of the FlyScope approach is the transition from fragmented visual checks to continuous, standardized, and predictive management of infrastructure assets.
A key FlyScope principle is the integration of hardware solutions, artificial intelligence, and Smart City digital platforms into a single technological chain.
3.1. A Platform Approach Instead of Fragmented Solutions
FlyScope will build a complete lifecycle for working with infrastructure, including:
• automated data collection;
• intelligent defect analysis and classification;
• risk prioritization;
• initiation of maintenance and repair operations;
• verification of results and creation of a digital asset history.
This approach will enable cities and infrastructure operators to move from episodic inspections to systematic asset-condition management.
3.2. VisionSense — A Machine Vision Sensor for Drones
The hardware foundation of FlyScope solutions will be the universal VisionSense machine vision sensor, designed to integrate with drones of different manufacturers and classes.
The sensor will combine visual, infrared, and, if needed, multispectral channels, as well as a compact computing module for local data processing. This will enable primary analysis directly onboard the drone and reduce the load on communication channels.
VisionSense will automatically record contamination levels, signs of corrosion, coating damage, structural deformations, missing fasteners, and other potentially hazardous defects. Each detected issue will be accompanied by precise georeferencing and a timestamp.
3.3. FlyScope AI and Analytics
The software component of FlyScope will be built on specialized computer vision and machine learning models trained on urban infrastructure assets.
AI algorithms will not only detect defects, but also:
• assess their criticality;
• track change dynamics over time;
• generate recommendations for follow-up actions.
This will provide the foundation for predictive maintenance and more accurate budget planning.
All data will be aggregated in the FlyScope cloud platform, where standardized reports compatible with asset management systems, GIS platforms, and city digital twins will be generated.
3.4. Integration with Smart City and Telecom Infrastructure
FlyScope will be designed for deep integration into existing digital ecosystems of cities and infrastructure operators.
The platform will support data exchange via APIs with smart lighting systems, telecom platforms, monitoring centers, and dispatch systems. This will allow inspection outcomes to be used not as isolated reports, but as part of a unified digital city management loop.
In telecom, FlyScope solutions will ensure standardized inspection of communication towers, antennas, and equipment, reducing subjectivity and improving operational safety.
3.5. BVLOS and Compliance with the EU Regulatory Model
FlyScope architecture will incorporate support for beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations from the outset. The platform will be developed in alignment with the requirements of the European U-space model.
FlyScope will support integration with U-space Service Providers and Common Information Services, enabling real-time exchange of routes, geozones, telemetry, and notifications. This will create a legally transparent and scalable basis for deploying drones in urban environments.
3.6. From Inspection to Active Maintenance
One of FlyScope’s key differentiators will be moving beyond diagnostics.
Based on machine vision data, the platform will initiate cleaning, anti-corrosion treatment, and painting operations using specialized drones. These operations will be performed without aerial lifts and without sending personnel to work at height, significantly reducing risks and operational costs.
Drones will be able to anchor onto poles and structures, receive water or materials from the ground, and operate in automated mode, including at night.
3.7. Economic and Environmental Efficiency
The integrated FlyScope approach will simultaneously address the reduction of operating expenses, the improvement of safety, and compliance with ESG requirements.
By automating inspections, standardizing data, and shifting to predictive maintenance, cities and infrastructure operators will gain measurable resource savings and a transparent asset management model.
FlyScope is being shaped as a next-generation platform that connects physical infrastructure with intelligent analytics.
It is intended to become the foundation for future urban infrastructure management, where safety, sustainability, and efficiency are not declarations, but measurable and scalable outcomes.
4. CleanDrone™ — From Inspection to Action
CleanDrone™ will be a logical evolution of the FlyScope platform, enabling the transition from infrastructure diagnostics to direct execution of service and restoration work using autonomous drones.
Unlike most solutions on the market that are limited to data collection and reporting, CleanDrone™ will close the “detect → decide → act” loop, reducing response time and eliminating the need for heavy machinery and manual work at height.
4.1. The CleanDrone™ Concept
CleanDrone™ will be a modular line of drones designed to perform service operations on urban and critical infrastructure assets. These drones will operate based on data produced by the FlyScope computer vision system and perform tasks strictly aligned with the detected defects.
The solution will focus on automating the following operations:
• surface cleaning from contamination;
• localized anti-corrosion treatment;
• spot painting and coating restoration;
• preventive servicing of infrastructure elements.
As a result, maintenance will be performed only where and when it is actually needed, without unnecessary work.
4.2. Technical Operating Principle
CleanDrone™ will use drones capable of mechanically anchoring onto the asset or support structure, ensuring stability and high precision during operations. Water, detergents, or paint will be supplied either from an onboard tank or via a ground hose, which reduces payload weight and increases operating time.
Process management will be handled through the FlyScope cloud platform, with the ability to:
• initiate operations remotely;
• monitor execution status in real time;
• automatically generate reports on completed actions.
Operations can be performed in fully automatic or semi-automatic mode, including at night, without road closures and without stopping critical assets.
4.3. Safety and Economic Impact
CleanDrone™ will significantly reduce risks for personnel by eliminating work at height and reducing human presence in hazardous zones. At the same time, it will reduce operating costs associated with aerial lifts, traffic closures, insurance, and permitting.
CleanDrone™ will also help reduce the carbon footprint by decreasing the number of deployments of heavy vehicles and optimizing consumption of water, detergents, and coating materials.
5. Applications in the EU: Telecom, Roads, and Energy
FlyScope and CleanDrone™ will focus on key segments of urban and critical infrastructure in the European Union where the combination of scale, risks, and costs makes automation especially relevant.
5.1. Telecommunications Infrastructure
In the telecom sector, FlyScope will be used for inspection and maintenance of:
• cellular towers;
• antenna mast structures;
• 4G/5G equipment;
• aviation beacons and signal lights.
The system will detect corrosion of fasteners, antenna misalignment, equipment contamination, and beacon failures. Based on these findings, CleanDrone™ will perform cleaning, localized coating restoration, or prepare the asset for scheduled repair.
This will enable telecom operators to reduce inspection costs, improve worker safety, and standardize reporting across the entire network.
5.2. Road Infrastructure and Smart Cities
In road infrastructure, FlyScope solutions will be used for monitoring and servicing:
• street lighting and poles;
• road signs and information displays;
• surveillance and traffic-control cameras;
• elements of bridges and overpasses.
CleanDrone™ will provide regular cleaning of optical surfaces, removal of contamination, and spot painting, without traffic closures and without lifting equipment.
For municipalities, this will create an opportunity to move to regular preventive maintenance without budget increases and with minimal disruption to the urban environment.
5.3. Energy and Distributed Networks
In the energy sector, FlyScope will be used to inspect:
• solar panels;
• power line poles;
• components of distributed energy systems.
AI analytics will identify contamination, overheating, mechanical damage, and signs of material degradation. CleanDrone™ will perform surface cleaning and preparatory servicing, improving equipment efficiency and reducing the likelihood of failures.
This approach will help energy companies increase grid reliability, reduce losses, and comply with EU environmental and ESG requirements.
CleanDrone™ will become a key element of the FlyScope ecosystem, enabling the transition from passive monitoring to active infrastructure management.
Combined with computer vision, AI analytics, and integration with Smart City and U-space, FlyScope solutions will form a universal platform for scalable, safe, and sustainable infrastructure maintenance across the European Union.
6. Economics and ESG Impact
FlyScope and CleanDrone™ will create a measurable economic and environmental impact for cities, infrastructure operators, and telecom companies across the European Union. The economic model is based on the shift from reactive maintenance and emergency repairs to predictive, standardized, and automated asset management.
6.1. Cost Efficiency and Expense Reduction
Implementing drone- and AI-based inspection and maintenance can substantially reduce direct and indirect infrastructure OPEX.
The economic impact will be achieved through:
• eliminating aerial lifts, cranes, and heavy machinery;
• reducing the number of site visits and approvals;
• decreasing the need for work at height;
• optimizing maintenance frequency and scope;
• detecting defects early, before they become failures.
The transition to a predictive model can reduce inspection and maintenance costs by 30–75%, depending on asset type. Additional savings will come from extending asset lifetime and reducing emergency repairs.
According to FlyScope estimates, payback for pilot deployments can be achieved within the first year, and total ROI can exceed 150–180% when scaled to a city or an infrastructure network.
6.2. Reduction of Operational and Insurance Risks
Automating inspection and servicing operations will significantly reduce risks linked to human error and hazardous work conditions.
Reducing manual work at height will lead to:
• fewer injuries and incidents;
• lower insurance premiums and liability;
• lower legal and reputational risks for operators and municipalities.
In the long term, this will create a more resilient and predictable infrastructure operating model.
6.3. ESG: Safety, Environment, Governance
FlyScope solutions will directly align with the core ESG directions of EU policy.
Environmental (E):
• reduced CO₂ emissions by minimizing heavy vehicle use;
• optimized consumption of water, detergents, and coating materials;
• fewer unplanned repairs and replacements.
Social (S):
• reduced risks for personnel;
• elimination of work at height where possible;
• improved safety for pedestrians and road users thanks to fewer closures and fewer emergency interventions.
Governance (G):
• standardized digital reporting;
• transparency of infrastructure asset condition;
• comparability of data over time;
• support for audits and compliance with regulatory requirements.
6.4. Support for ESG Reporting and Sustainable Financing
Data generated by the FlyScope platform can be used for:
• ESG reporting;
• justification of sustainable investments;
• access to green financing and EU grants;
• proving alignment with EU Green Deal and Smart City initiatives.
Digital records of asset condition and executed work enable a shift from declarative sustainability to an evidence-based ESG model.
6.5. Macroeconomic Impact for Cities and Operators
At the level of cities and infrastructure operators, FlyScope adoption will contribute to:
• higher reliability of the urban environment;
• fewer failures and outages;
• more accurate budgeting;
• stronger investment attractiveness of cities.
Resource savings and risk reduction will allow reinvestment into infrastructure development rather than into fixing the consequences of failures.
The economic and ESG impact of FlyScope will not come from isolated optimizations, but from a systemic change in infrastructure management.
The shift to automated inspection, predictive maintenance, and active drone-based servicing will enable EU cities and operators to reduce costs, improve safety, and meet sustainable development requirements simultaneously.
In this format, FlyScope becomes a tool that transforms ESG from reporting into a measurable and управляемый (managed) result.
7. Deployment Potential in EU Smart City Ecosystems
FlyScope and CleanDrone™ will have strong potential for large-scale deployment in Smart City ecosystems across the European Union thanks to a combination of technological readiness, regulatory compatibility, and economic efficiency.
7.1. A Systemic Role in Smart City Architecture
Within Smart City frameworks, FlyScope will serve as a link between physical urban infrastructure and digital management platforms. The platform will provide a continuous stream of structured, machine-readable data about asset conditions that traditionally remained outside the digital loop.
Infrastructure supported by inspection and service drones will integrate into existing city digital platforms, including asset management systems, GIS, digital twins, and dispatch centers. This will enable cities to move from fragmented monitoring to holistic urban environment management.
7.2. Integration with Core Smart City Subsystems
FlyScope will support integration with major Smart City subsystems, including:
• smart lighting and energy efficiency;
• traffic management and safety;
• telecom infrastructure and 5G;
• monitoring of public spaces;
• digital twins of urban infrastructure.
Inspection and service results will be automatically used to update asset status, plan work, and generate city-level analytics.
7.3. Scalability and Cross-City Standardization
A key FlyScope advantage will be scalability—from individual districts to entire cities and national infrastructure programs.
Standardized data formats, unified evaluation algorithms, and a centralized cloud platform will make it possible to harmonize infrastructure inspection and maintenance approaches across municipalities and EU member states.
This creates a foundation for cross-border Smart City initiatives and exchange of best practices at the EU level.
7.4. Compatibility with the EU Regulatory Model
FlyScope will be developed with EU regulatory requirements in mind from the start, including the U-space model, flight safety standards, and rules for unmanned systems in urban environments.
Integration with U-space Service Providers and Common Information Services will ensure legal transparency and operational controllability—critical for large-scale drone adoption in EU cities.
7.5. Support for EU Climate and Digital Strategies
FlyScope solutions will directly support key EU initiatives, including:
• the European Green Deal;
• Digital Europe;
• sustainable urban development programs;
• climate neutrality by 2050.
Automating inspections and service operations will help cities reduce emissions, optimize resource use, and validate achieved outcomes through digital data.
7.6. Economic and Governance Benefits for Municipalities
For city administrations, adopting FlyScope will mean:
• lower operational maintenance costs;
• higher transparency and controllability of city assets;
• better budgeting and investment planning;
• fewer incidents and emergency situations;
• increased trust from citizens and investors.
FlyScope will shift infrastructure management from reactive response to forecasting and systematic development.
The deployment potential of FlyScope in EU Smart Cities will be determined not only by technology, but also by its alignment with EU strategic goals for sustainability, digitalization, and safety.
FlyScope can become a next-generation infrastructure element of smart cities, enabling the transition from observation to active urban environment management based on data, AI, and autonomous systems.
8. Founder’s Experience and Industry Background
The development of FlyScope is grounded in the founder’s long-term industry experience in telecommunications, infrastructure systems, IoT, unmanned technologies, payment platforms, and building scalable B2B and B2G businesses.
The founder’s professional path provides a practical basis for developing FlyScope solutions aimed not at experimental prototypes, but at deployment under real infrastructure and regulatory conditions.
8.1. Engineering and Telecommunications Foundation
A core engineering background in radio engineering and digital communications systems provides deep understanding of telecom infrastructure, wireless networks, RF environments, and reliability requirements.
Experience in telecom companies and infrastructure projects is applied when designing FlyScope solutions compatible with operator networks, data centers, transmission systems, and critical facilities.
This ensures FlyScope’s technological connectivity with 4G/5G, IoT, and Smart City ecosystems.
8.2. Experience in Scaling Infrastructure and Technology Projects
Previous projects provided practical experience in launching and scaling infrastructure solutions across multiple countries, including management of distributed assets, power supply, logistics, and operational efficiency.
This experience is applied in FlyScope development to:
• scale drone inspections to thousands of assets;
• manage distributed drone fleets;
• build resilient cloud and edge architectures;
• design operational processes at city and regional levels.
8.3. Expertise in IoT, RFID, and Machine Vision
Experience with RFID systems, access control, IoT devices, and microelectronics is used in developing FlyScope machine vision sensors and integrating hardware components with the software platform.
Understanding the full cycle—from hardware module design to certification, production, and deployment—enables the creation of proprietary hardware solutions optimized for Smart City infrastructure tasks.
8.4. Entrepreneurial and Management Experience
Experience in founding and managing technology startups is used to build FlyScope as a sustainable business with a clear product strategy, repeatable business model, and focus on long-term scaling.
This background enables:
• building SaaS and Hardware-as-a-Service models;
• raising investment and grant funding;
• forming partnerships with municipalities, operators, and integrators;
• managing multidisciplinary teams of engineers, AI specialists, and business developers.
8.5. Experience with Government and Quasi-Government Stakeholders
Practical interaction with government clients, regulators, and major infrastructure operators is a key factor for deploying FlyScope in EU countries.
This experience enables:
• accounting for regulatory constraints early in development;
• building solutions compatible with U-space and aviation authority requirements;
• adapting the product to procurement procedures, pilot programs, and Smart City sandbox models.
8.6. International Context
International project experience will be used to position FlyScope as a cross-border platform ready for deployment across different EU countries, as well as in the Middle East and other regions.
This creates a foundation for scaling FlyScope beyond a single city or country and for developing common principles of digital infrastructure management.
9. Why AI Inspection and Predictive Drone-Based Maintenance Will Become an EU Priority
Artificial intelligence and autonomous drone systems will become one of the key tools for managing urban and critical infrastructure in the European Union in the coming years. This priority will emerge not as a technology trend, but as a response to a combination of structural, economic, and regulatory challenges EU countries will face.
9.1. Infrastructure Wear and Limited Resources
A significant share of EU infrastructure will continue to operate beyond its original design lifespan. Growing urban density, increasing transport and energy loads, and stricter requirements for resilience and safety will intensify pressure on existing assets.
At the same time, municipalities and infrastructure operators will face limited budgets, shortages of skilled personnel, and time constraints. Traditional inspection and maintenance methods will prove insufficiently scalable. AI inspection and predictive maintenance will enable early defect detection and more efficient resource allocation.
9.2. Human Safety and Reducing the Human Factor
Work at height and near transport and energy infrastructure will remain among the most hazardous operational activities. Using drones for inspection and servicing will significantly reduce direct human involvement in dangerous zones.
For the European Union, where occupational safety and social responsibility remain high priorities, reducing human risk will be a key argument in favor of automating infrastructure operations.
9.3. Transition from Reactive to Predictive Management
An operational model based on periodic checks or responding to failures leads to high costs, downtime, and reduced infrastructure resilience.
AI inspection and predictive maintenance create a different model—management based on continuous data and forecasting. Analysis of change dynamics, early detection of degradation, and failure prediction will help prevent incidents before they occur and reduce dependence on emergency repairs.
9.4. Climate Agenda and ESG Obligations
EU climate and sustainability policy will require further emission reductions, improved energy efficiency, and optimized resource usage.
Drone inspections and targeted servicing reduce the deployment of heavy machinery, minimize traffic closures, and optimize material use. This lowers the carbon footprint of operations and supports European Green Deal objectives and EU climate neutrality goals.
9.5. Digitalization and Smart City Development
Smart City in the EU will evolve as a governance model based on data, integration, and transparency. AI inspection turns physical infrastructure into a continuous source of digital data integrated into city platforms, digital twins, and asset management systems.
Predictive maintenance enables cities to move from fragmented solutions to systematic infrastructure management based on analytics and forecasting.
9.6. Regulatory Readiness and U-space
The European Union will continue developing a regulatory environment for safe and scalable use of unmanned systems in urban settings. The evolution of U-space, digital traffic management services, and interoperability standards will create the legal basis for mass drone deployment.
AI inspection and autonomous drone systems will naturally fit into this model by ensuring controllability, transparency, and operational safety.
9.7. Strategic Autonomy and Technological Sovereignty
Developing EU-native AI inspection platforms and drone services will reduce dependence on external technologies for critical infrastructure.
Support for such solutions will become part of the EU’s technological sovereignty strategy and long-term competitiveness, and a basis for establishing pan-European standards for infrastructure monitoring.
As a result, AI inspection and predictive drone-based maintenance should become an EU priority because they simultaneously address core future challenges: improving infrastructure resilience, protecting people, meeting climate obligations, digitizing governance, and strengthening technological autonomy.
This is not about adopting new technology for its own sake, but about a necessary step toward sustainable and scalable infrastructure management in the European Union over the long term.
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