Acronym / Term and Explanation

1. AGL
   
1. Above ground level (Altitude)
   
2. Anomaly
   
1. Any unusual thermal pattern detected during inspection. Anomalies may indicate a defect, installation issue, or environmental effect.
   
3. Anomaly Groups
   
1. An aggregated categorisation of anomalies based on their impact or type (for instance: “Health & Safety Impact”, “Corrective Maintenance Performance”, “Preventative Maintenance Performance”, “Low Effort / High Return”, “Warranty Claim”).
   
4. ATL
   
1. Above take-off level (Altitude)
   
5. Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
   
1. An autonomous, self-contained system where a drone deploys, flies a mission, and returns to a protective enclosure for charging and maintenance at the solar plant. It's also known as Drone in a Box (DiaB).
   
6. BVLOS
   
1. Autonomous drones beyond the visual field of sight are operated using Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) regulations, which are now being established in the UK and other countries to allow for more extensive operations, such as infrastructure inspection, or in Above's case, solar plant inspections. 
7. CAD
   
1. "Computer-aided design [document] Here, generally used to refer to schematic drawings of the layout of a solar plant."
8. Checklists
   
1. The checklist functionality is called Subtasks within Tasks. Subtasks can be standardised in Task Templates within the portal. These lists are used for Preventative Maintenance and Corrective Maintenance tasks.
   
9. Delta-Tm (ΔTm)
   
1. The measured temperature gradient of an anomaly (peak temperature of the anomaly minus reference temperature from a neighbouring, normal panel).
   
10. Delta-Tn (ΔTn)
    
1. Temperature gradient normalized to a standard irradiance of 1000 W/m².
   
11. Diode Fault
    
1. Bypass diode failures in modules often show as distinct hotspots or block-shaped anomalies in thermographic images.
   
12. DJI
    
1. SZ Dà-Jiāng Innovations Co., Ltd., a Chinese company selling drones and cameras.
   
13. Drone Survey / Flight
    
1. The aerial inspection event where both thermal (IR) and RGB imagery are captured. Each report is tied to a survey event.
   
14. Ec
    
1. Corrected Irradiance. Irradiance, E, measures the strength of sunlight falling on the photovoltaic modules, as measured using a pyranometer on the drone. To calculate Ec, this reading is corrected using the date, time and module plane..
   
15. FLIR
    
1. FLIR systems. ('Forward-looking infrared'). A USA company producing infrared sensors and cameras.
   
16. FLIR-DPR
    
1. "FLIR Duo Pro R [camera]. A type of hybrid (IR + visual) camera used for aerial thermography. * See also, FLIR"
17. FOV
    
1. Field of view. Of a camera – the field of view produced by a lens of given focal length. Usually measured in degrees subtended.
   
18. GAP Device
    
1. Geolocation, accelerometry and pyranometry device. A bespoke device developed by Essex University and Above Surveying to capture irradiance readings and other telemetry.
   
19. GNSS
    
1. Global navigation satellite system. The standard term for satellite navigation systems. The most widely used of these currently is GPS, which is owned by the US military.
   
20. GPS
    
1. Global positioning system. See GNSS
   
21. GSD
    
1. Ground-sampling distance. Of a camera mounted on a UAV – the distance on the ground represented by 1 pixel in the resulting digital image. This is measured in cm/pixel (e.g. 3 GSD, 5.5 GSD, 8 GSD). Lower GSD values mean higher resolution and finer detail.
   
22. Heated Hypercell
    
1. In modules using “shingle-cell” architecture, a hypercell refers to a grouped cell section; a “heated hypercell” anomaly denotes that specific sub-segment of the module is overheating.
   
23. Heated Junction Box
    
1. A junction box (junction enclosure behind a module) that is significantly hotter than neighbouring junction boxes; may indicate connector/dielectric, wiring, or diode issues.
   
24. Heated Module
    
1. A module showing anomalous heating across its entire surface. Such heating may stem from intrinsic (within-module) defects or extrinsic causes like string heating.
   
25. Heated Substring
    
1. When one portion (a “substring”) of a module is hotter than the rest (e.g. one third, half, etc.). This may be caused by diode activation, loose connections, or damage.
   
26. Hotspot
    
1. A small, concentrated area on a module cell that appears hotter than the rest of the module. Often linked to microcracks, shading, or internal damage.
   
27. IR
    
1. "Infrared. * See above also, LWIR"
28. LWIR
    
1. Long-wavelength infrared. The 8–15 µm region of the infrared spectrum, used for thermal imaging. Requires specialist cameras with sensors sensitive to these wavelengths.
   
29. Missing Module
    
1. A module which is absent (but not by design) relative to the provided layout/CAD model. The system flags it as a missing module, even though by definition its ΔT = 0 (no temperature difference). 
   
30. Multiple Hot Cells
    
1. More than one cell on a module showing elevated temperature (i.e. multiple hotspots on one module).
   
31. Observations
    
1. Formerly Visual Reports in SolarGain portal. Observations can be inspection images uploaded from SolarGain mobile or images uploaded into portal. These images can come directly from a site inspectors mobile or from an autonomous drone.
   
32. O&M
    
1. Operations and management [organisation].
   
33. One row per pass
    
1. See Rows per pass.
   
34. PID
    
1. Potential-induced degradation. A cause if mid-life failure of photovoltaic (PV) modules due to the unwanted migration of electrical charge carriers from the external materials of the panel into the semiconductors making up the PV cells. PID must be confirmed by ground-based testing of a PV module, and cannot be diagnosed using thermography alone.
   
35. Pretties
    
1. "Pretties" is a term used by Above for overhead imagery displaying the entire solar plant. These can be used for marketing or reports. This is located in the Documents tab the Thermographic reports.
   
36. Pseudocolour
    
1. Infrared images are natively single-channel (greyscale). Various colour-maps (e.g. "iron" palette) can be applied to these images to improve presentation and feature-detection by the human eye.
   
37. RAMS
    
1. Risk assessment and methods statement
   
38. RGB
    
1. Red-green-blue [image]. An image captured in the visual spectrum (of the human eye), rather than in the infrared (thermal) spectrum, which only special sensors/cameras can detect.
   
39. Rows per pass
    
1. The number of "rows per pass" is the number of rows of solar panel tables which we capture in a single camera frame. If tables are close-enough together, then we can capture "two rows per pass", but typically we capture "one row per pass", and therefore our drone flies along every row of the solar plant.
   
40. SGM
1. SolarGain Mobile. This is the mobile app formerly known as EyeSite.
   
41. Subtasks
1. A smaller action item linked to a main task. Subtasks allow you to break a task into a checklist of steps, making it easier to track detailed work such as preventative maintenance or component spot checks. Above's term for Checklists. 
   
42. Survey Compare
1. A tool that allows comparison of at least 2 inspections (survey events), to analyse trends, improvements, degradations and ongoing anomalies over time. This tool is viewable in the Thermographic report.
   
43. TA
    
1. Technical advisor
   
44. Tasks
1. An individual action or piece of work that needs to be carried out. A task can include subtasks to form a checklist for inspections, spot checks, or maintenance. Tasks sit within a task list and are used to track specific activities at site or component level.
   
45. Task Lists
1. A collection of tasks grouped together under one assignment. A task list can be assigned to an individual user, but individual tasks within it cannot be separately assigned. Task lists provide structure for managing larger sets of work such as site inspections, planned maintenance, or survey follow-ups.
   
46. Tracker fault
    
1. When the solar tracker system (on tracker-equipped plants) is not correctly following the sun (misalignment, mechanical failure), causing thermal anomalies in module rows.
   
47. Two rows per pass
    
1. See Rows per pass
   
48. UAV
    
1. Unmanned aerial vehicle - the technical term for a 'drone' 
   
49. Visual Evidence
1. Supporting RGB imagery that shows physical signs of damage or defect (e.g. cracks, delamination, corrosion), used alongside thermal images. Visual evidence can also be collected on site, using SolarGain mobile using the Inspections tool. This uploads into the Observations area of SolarGain portal.