Abstract
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have begun to enter human life as a new type of tool, they have played a large role in various industries, and the power industry is no exception. The normal operation of the power system requires prudential inspection. Traditional methods such as manual inspection have nonnegligible disadvantages, so more and more power companies have begun to use UAVs instead of manual inspection. In this paper we analyzed the development history and advantages of UAV power line inspection, and showed the composition and classification of UAV power line inspection system, as well as the current circumstances. Next, according to the type of UAV, the task of power line inspection is described. Then, based on the requirements of the power line inspection task, the inspection methods and key technologies of the UAV are described. Finally, challenges such as safety, endurance time, and automation that have emerged during the development of UAV power inspections are proposed. We analyze the prospects of UAV power inspection technology from how some companies are responding to these challenges.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Peng, X., Wang, K., Xiao, X.: Broadband satellite communication system in the intelligent inspection of electric power line base on large scale unmanned helicopter. High Volt. Eng. 45(2), 368–376 (2019)
Wan, X., Song, H.: Application of convolutional neural network in pattern recognition of partial discharge image. Power Syst. Technol. 43(6), 2219–2226 (2019)
Nguyen, V.N., Jenssen, R., Roverso, D.: Automatic autonomous vision-based power line inspection: a review of current status and the potential role of deep learning. Int. J. Electr. Power Energy Syst. 99, 107–120 (2018)
Qin, B., Wang, L.: Overview of UAV development. Aerodyn. Missile 08, 4–10 (2002)
Chen, X.B., Ma, Y., Xu, Z.: Research on transmission-lines-cruising technology with the unmanned aerial vehicle. South. Power Syst. Technol. 2(6), 57–60 (2008)
Mejias, L., Correa, J.F., Mondragon, I., Campoy, P.: COLIBRI: a vision guided UAV for surveillance and visual inspection. In: International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry (CARPI), Roma, pp. 2760–2761 (2007)
Montambault, S., Beaudry, J., Toussaint, K., Pouliot, N.: On the application of VTOL UAVs to the inspection of power utility assets. In: International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry (CARPI), Montreal, pp. 1–7 (2010)
Jones, D.I.: An experimental power pick-up mechanism for an electrically driven UAV. In: IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics. ISIE2007, pp. 2033–2038 (2007)
Jaka, K., Bostjan, L.: A survey of mobile robots for distribution power line inspection. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv. 25, 485–493 (2019)
Li, L., Xu, X.: Discussion on overhead line UAV inspection technology. Hunan Electr. Power 32(01), 44–47 (2012)
Pu, T., Qiao, J.: Research and application of artificial intelligence in operation and maintenance for power equipment. High Volt. Eng. 46(02), 369–383 (2020)
Takaya, K., Ohta, H., Kroumov, V.: Development of UAV system for autonomous power line inspection. In: 2019 23rd International Conference on System Theory, Control and Computing (ICSTCC), Sinaia, Romania, pp. 762–767 (2019)
Li, J.: Summary of patented technology for UAV power transmission line inspection. China Sci. Technol. Inf. 07, 17–18 (2019)
Huang, T., Liu, P.: Technical upgrade of fixed-wing UAV in power line transmission patrol. Mech. Electr. Eng. Technol. 47(10), 67–70 (2018)
Zhang, J., Yang, H.M., Zhang, Z.: An automatic diagnostic method of abnormal heat defect in transmission lines based on infrared video. In: International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry (CARPI), Jinan, pp. 1–4 (2016)
Zhao, T., Guo, J.: Ultrviolet detection and location of power line corona in UAV track. Opt. Precis. Eng. 27(02), 309–315 (2019)
Training and assessment specifications about UAV inspection operator from electric power industry: T/CEC 193—2018. China Electricity Council, Beijing, China (2019)
Zheng, H., Su, X., Lin, Y., Zhou, Z., Sun, H.: A somatosensory-operation-based unmanned aerial vehicle for power line inspection in first person of view. In: 2018 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON), Guangzhou, pp. 3846–3854 (2018)
Zhao, Z., Qi, H., Qi, Y., Zhang, K., Zhai, Y., Zhao, W.: Detection method based on automatic visual shape clustering for pin-missing defect in transmission lines. IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. (2020). Early Access
Chen, C., Peng, X., Song, S.: Safety distance diagnosis of largescale transmission line corridor inspection based on LiDAR point cloud collected with UAV. Power Syst. Technol. 41(08), 2723–2730 (2017)
Shen, J., Liu, W.: Safety distances of inspections on AC UHV lines of 1 000 kV with a helicopter. Electr. Power 44(05), 41–45 (2011)
Rezinkina, M., Rezinkin, O., Lytvynenko, S., Tomashevskyi, R.: Electromagnetic compatibility at UAVs usage for power transmission lines monitoring. In: Actual Problems of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Developments (APUAVD), Kiev, Ukraine, pp. 157–160 (2019)
Zheng, T., Sun, L.: Determination method of safe flight area for UAV inspection for transmission line based on the electromagnetic field calculation. Shandong Electr. Power 45(02), 27–30 + 34 (2018)
Liu, Z., Young, D.: Simulation and experiment on the safety distance of typical 500 kV DC transmission lines and towers for UAV inspection. High Volt. Eng. 45(02), 426–432 (2019)
Wu, Z.H., Shi, J.: Simulation research on safety distance of UAV drone tracking based on electric field information. Electron. World 13(01), 23–24 + 27 (2018)
http://www.ewatt.com/index.htm. Accessed 29 Mar 2020
Gadalla, M., Zafar, S.: Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV. Hydrog. Energy 41(15), 6422–6432 (2016)
Lu, M., Bagheri, M., James, A.P.: Wireless charging techniques for UAVs: a review, reconceptualization, and extension. IEEE Access 6, 29865–29884 (2018)
Simic, M., Bil, C., Vojisavljevic, V.: Investigation in wireless power transmission for UAV charging. Proc. Comput. 60(1), 1846–1855 (2015)
http://www.airwing.ai/products.aspx?TypeId=67&FId=t3:67:3. Accessed 26 Mar 2020
Liu, Z., Wang, X., Liu, Y.: Application of unmanned aerial vehicle hangar in transmission tower inspection considering the risk probabilities of steel towers. IEEE Access 7, 159048–159057 (2019)
Vidal Filho, W.B., de Almeida Pinto, A.M.: VTOL aerial robot for inspection of transmission line. In: 2014 3rd International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry, Foz do Iguassu, pp. 1–4 (2014)
Zhang, J., Guo, Z., Wang, R.: Application of total energy control on vertical take-off and landing UAV. In: 2019 IEEE 3rd Advanced Information Management, Communicates, Electronic and Automation Control Conference (IMCEC), Chongqing, China, pp. 1554–1558 (2019)
Shao, G., Liu, Z., Fu, J.: Research progress in unmanned aerial vehicle inspection technology on overhead transmission lines. High Volt. Eng. 46(01), 14–22 (2020)
Xufei, P., Rong, S., Ligong, L.: RTK technology research in navigation and positioning. Geomat. Spat. Inf. Technol. 42(1), 116–118 (2019)
Yaxian, W., Jun, H., Qingxi, Z.: Research on automatic inspection method for unmanned aerial vehicle. Comput. Simul. 34(3), 56–61 (2017)
Titov, E., Limanovskaya, O., Lemekh, A., Volkova, D.: The deep learning based power line defect detection system built on data collected by the Cablewalker Drone. In: 2019 International Multi-Conference on Engineering, Computer and Information Sciences (SIBIRCON), Novosibirsk, pp. 0700–0704 (2019)
Lu Y., Sun C.: Foreign body detection method for transmission equipment based on edge computing and deep learning. Electr. Power 1–7 (2020)
Wu, Y.: Overhead transmission line parameter reconstruction for UAV inspection based on tunneling magnetoresistive sensors and inverse models. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv. 34(3), 819–827 (2019)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wang, Z., Gao, Q., Xu, J., Li, D. (2022). A Review of UAV Power Line Inspection. In: Yan, L., Duan, H., Yu, X. (eds) Advances in Guidance, Navigation and Control . Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 644. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8155-7_263
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8155-7_263
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-8154-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-8155-7
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)