Digital Twins in Confined Spaces: Enabling Asset Virtualization with Elios 3

Digital twins are becoming a key part of how industrial sites manage their assets, especially in sectors where internal structures are difficult to access. Creating a detailed 3D model of an asset gives engineers and maintenance teams a clear picture of its condition, helping them track changes, plan repairs, and avoid unnecessary shutdowns. But for many facilities, the real challenge isn’t making a digital twin of open spaces. It’s capturing accurate data inside the confined, complex environments where most early-stage defects actually form. That’s where drones like the Flyability Elios 3 are starting to make a meaningful impact.

Designed for GPS-denied and dangerous environments, the Elios 3 enables teams to collect both visual and LiDAR data from deep inside equipment, which would otherwise necessitate scaffolding, rope access, or time-consuming manual scanning. Combined with Flyability’s new Asset Management Software Extension, these inspections can now be turned into clear, organised, and repeatable digital twins that align with modern asset-management workflows.

Why Digital Twins Matter Inside Industrial Assets

For asset managers, understanding how structures are ageing is essential. Internal components such as cyclones, tanks, kilns, and pipe structures constantly face high heat, abrasion, and chemical exposure. Without a reliable record of how these environments change over time, defects can easily go unnoticed.

Digital twins help tackle this by providing:

• A clear, accurate reference model of each asset

• A way to compare inspections over months or years

• Better planning insight for shutdowns, access, and repairs

• Consistent communication between engineers, operations, and maintenance

Traditional LiDAR scanning works well in open areas, but it quickly becomes impractical inside confined spaces. A handheld scanner can only reach a few metres beyond the access point, leaving large gaps in the data. This is exactly the problem the Elios 3 was designed to solve.

How the Elios 3 Makes Internal Digital Twins Possible

The Elios 3 combines collision-tolerant design with a built-in LiDAR sensor. This allows inspectors to fly the drone safely through tight environments and capture a full 3D dataset from within.

Two features make this particularly valuable for digital twins:

• Live 3D Mapping While Flying: As the drone moves, it creates a real-time 3D map using Flyability’s Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) engine. This gives the pilot instant awareness of where the drone is and ensures full coverage of the asset.

• High-Quality LiDAR Data: The LiDAR feed can be processed in software like GeoSLAM Connect to create survey-grade digital twins. This produces an accurate baseline for future comparisons. But raw data alone isn’t enough. It needs to be organised in a way that aligns with how asset managers plan, review, and act on inspections. That’s where Flyability’s Asset Management Software comes into play. It combines new data with existing results in real-time to provide a comprehensive view of asset data in one place.

• Speed Of Data Collection: In less than 10 minutes of flight, the Elios 3 collects enough LiDAR data to generate a digital twin of three cyclones, which is significantly faster than on-foot surveys with handheld scanners.

Bringing Structure and Clarity to Drone Inspection Data

One of the most practical challenges with drone inspections is keeping data organised. Multiple flights, large video files, and separate point clouds can easily become overwhelming. The Asset Management Software introduces a clearer way of working:

• Assets are grouped in one workspace

• Each asset contains all of its inspections and each inspection contains all of its flights

• Flights can be switched on or off to compare coverage

• All footage appears on a single timeline

• Displays Point of Interests (POIs) and maps across multiple flights

• Supports smoother planning for shutdowns and repairs

This removes the need to dig through scattered folders or match data between flights. Everything is housed in one structured location, making it easier for maintenance teams to revisit specific areas, track changes, and plan future work.

Fast, Accurate and Interior-Ready

With its LiDAR payload, the Elios 3 collected enough data in minutes to build detailed 3D models of each asset. The digital twins were then compared with the original CAD drawings and found to match within about a centimetre, an impressive level of accuracy for internal scanning. These models now serve as the plant’s “baseline.” During the first shutdown, engineers will capture new digital twins and compare them to identify:

• Material buildup

• Wear or structural changes

• Areas requiring reinforcement or planned cleaning

This comparison-based approach is set to become a core part of long-term maintenance strategies across heavy industry.

Why Confined-Space Digital Twins Are Gaining Momentum

Digital twins are no longer limited to open-area surveys. As drones like the Elios 3 evolve, they are bringing the same level of insight to environments that were once too time-consuming, expensive, or unsafe to inspect thoroughly. The industry is seeing this shift for several reasons:

• Better visibility: Internal conditions can be monitored more closely.

• Less disruption: No need for scaffolding, shutdown extensions, or confined-space entry teams.

• Consistency: Repeatable models make trend analysis straightforward.

• Smarter maintenance: Teams can plan with confidence instead of relying on assumptions.

As more organisations digitise their operations, these tools are quickly becoming part of standard asset-management workflows.

Conclusion

Digital twins are altering the way confined spaces are inspected and maintained. With the Elios 3 and the Asset Management Software Extension, operators can now collect detailed asset data, organise it clearly, and compare changes across the life of an asset. For plants, refineries, utilities, and heavy-industry sites, this shift supports safer operations, smarter planning, and a more modern approach to asset health monitoring.