Offshore asset owners – whether in oil & gas, LNG, or renewables – are governed by some of the most stringent safety standards in the world. DNV (Det Norske Veritas) certification is a critical benchmark: without it, drones and ultrasonic testing payloads cannot be deployed for official corrosion monitoring or thickness inspection of offshore infrastructure.
This creates a key bottleneck for innovation in the NDT industry:
• Safety compliance barrier: Operators must demonstrate proven accuracy and reliability before drones can replace rope access teams or scaffolding.
• Market access limitation: Without certification, even promising technologies are locked out of high-value offshore projects.
• Costly status quo: Rope access and scaffolding are expensive, time-consuming, and hazardous for technicians, yet remain the default without approved alternatives.
For Air Control Entech, integrating ultrasonic payloads into drones was technically feasible. But to scale deployments into critical offshore environments, they needed DNV’s formal approval.
ACE partnered with Thornetix to integrate the ARTIO™ wireless ultrasonic payload into its drone platform, creating a compact, fully aerial UT solution. Together, the teams pursued DNV certification through a rigorous process that involved:
• Technical documentation & procedures – detailing calibration routines, operational workflows, and safety checks.
• Accuracy validation – verifying ARTIO’s ultrasonic measurements against certified test blocks.
• Live demonstration – conducting scans on corroded material samples under observation to prove repeatability and reliability.
This collaboration demonstrated not only the capabilities of the drone + ARTIO system, but also its alignment with DNV’s standards for offshore safety and inspection quality.
The DNV certification positions ARTIO as an offshore-ready ultrasonic payload, trusted to deliver accurate, reliable results in some of the harshest inspection environments in the world.
For drone manufacturers and operators, it demonstrates that ARTIO is not just a payload, it is a certification-ready platform designed to unlock offshore inspection markets.
Following successful evaluations, the integrated ARTIO + ACE drone system achieved full DNV certification for offshore use. This recognition establishes the solution as both safe and reliable for corrosion monitoring and wall-thickness inspections across LNG storage tankers, oil rigs, and offshore wind structures.
The achievement represents:
• Credibility – independent validation from a globally recognised authority.
• Market access – clearance to operate in regulated offshore environments.
• Operational readiness – proof that wireless UT data from drones meets industry standards for accuracy and reliability.
Certification has immediate commercial and industry impact:
• Safer inspections – replacing rope access and scaffolding with drone-based UT reduces technician risk in hazardous offshore settings.
• Faster turnaround – inspections that once required days of setup can now be completed in hours.
• Expanded opportunities – one of the first deployments took place inside floating LNG storage tanks, where the certified solution provided precise corrosion monitoring without human entry.
For asset operators, this means fewer shutdowns, reduced operational costs, and improved compliance. For the industry, it signals a turning point in offshore NDT, where drones and wireless UT can finally be adopted at scale.
Looking to integrate ARTIO into your inspection platform?
Contact us today to explore certification-ready solutions for offshore and industrial environments.