INSPEL

Regular inspection of electric transmission network elements is fundamental for the timely detection of defects. Currently, inspections are performed using a helicopter. Defects are identified by an onboard expert during flight or by using video recordings afterwards. Using a helicopter for inspections presents various problems, e.g., safety, data standardization, and output data quality.

The project’s goal is to develop a system using unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with onboard sensors, control algorithms, and an image processing system. This will allow the replacement of the regularly planned aerial inspection of power lines, which is currently operated using a helicopter.

The task of the Fly4Future team in the project is the design and development of software for the autonomous control of the movement of unmanned vehicles, the verification of partial technologies in simulation, and real experiments.

The system allows for automating data collection. The impacts of a new solution include lower costs, improved quality of aerial data acquisition, and improved evaluation. The new solution will lead to improved reliability and safety of the electric transmission network.

The currently presented project could be used in the future for multi-robotic inspection of power lines using an operator interface, in which the responsible person would mark out the inspection locations and have the display of current data from the sensors available. This will significantly speed up checks on the lines and, above all, it will be possible to use the drone system for unplanned inspections in the event of accidents, which is not possible now.