Autonomous and scalable control for remote inspection with multiple aerial vehicles

Clark, Ruaridh; Punzo, Giuliano; MacLeod, Charles N.; Dobie, Gordon; Summan, Rahul; Bolton, Gary; Pierce, S. Gareth; Macdonald, Malcolm

doi:10.1016/j.robot.2016.10.012

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Photogrammetry is an inspection method whereby UAVs equipped with a high-resolution camera evaluate the surface condition of the target object [3]. Thermographic inspection focuses on monitoring heat distribution to identify oil or gas leakage from damaged or worn structures, for example, underground pipelines [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Ultrasonic Inspection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Zhang

Watson

Dobie

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)

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In terms of safety and convenience, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) offers significant benefits when conducting remote NDT evaluations by mitigating hazards and inefficiencies associated with manned access. Traditionally, UAV remote inspections rely on high-resolution cameras, providing a visual overview of surface condition. This photogrammetric inspection, however, cannot distinguish minute discontinuities or deformations beneath a surface coating. Ultrasonic inspection is a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method conventionally used in corrosion mapping. Surface contacting ultrasonic transducers offer the potential for internal inspection of an industrial asset, providing enhanced structural integrity information. However, manually piloting a UAV with sufficient surface proximity to perform a detailed, contact-based examination requires a highly developed skillset and intense concentration. Limitations of payload mass and electronic interference also represent significant challenges to be overcome. Addressing such issues, this paper demonstrates the implementation of an autonomous UAV system with an integrated ultrasonic contact measurement payload. The prototype is autonomously guided and undertakes the contact thickness measurement process without manual intervention.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Ultrasonic Inspection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Zhang

Watson

Dobie

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)

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“…Application of swarm robots in the inspection of civil infrastructure systems has still not gained momentum as it is evident from the limited number of articles available in literature. Clark et al (2017) proposed an autonomous control scheme for remote structural inspection aided by multiple UAVs. The proposed path planning scheme offers the advantages of scaling and distributive flexibilities, collision avoidance capability, and nominal computational requirements.…”

Section: Swarm Roboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconfigurable swarm robots for structural health monitoring: a brief review

Jahanshahi

Shen

Mondal

et al. 2017

Int J Intell Robot Appl

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Autonomous monitoring of infrastructure systems offers a promising alternative to manual inspection techniques which are mostly tedious, expensive and prone to error. Robot-based autonomous monitoring systems not only provide higher precision, but they also allow frequent inspection of infrastructure systems at a much lower cost. Recent advancements in robotic systems have led to the development of reconfigurable swarm robots (RSR) that can change their shape and functionality dynamically, without any external intervention. RSR have the advantages of being modular, on-site reconfigurable, multifunctional, incrementally assemble-able, reusable, faulttolerant, and even repairable on the orbit. Newly-developed reconfigurable robots are expected to bring a radical change in the prevailing structural health monitoring techniques, thus augmenting the efficiency, accuracy and affordability of inspection operations. This paper presents a holistic review of the previous studies and state-of-the-art technologies in the field of RSR, and argues that RSR offer great potential advantages from the perspective of monitoring and assessment of civil and mechanical systems. A roadmap for future research has also been outlined based on the limitations of the current methods and anticipated needs of future inspection systems.

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“…A UAV with photogrammetric payload enables technicians to inspect the surface of the large-scale assets [1]. In existing literature, UAVs have been utilised in various inspection tasks, such as building surveys [6], detecting discontinuous on power cables [7], inspections of a nuclear waste storage container [8] and evaluating structural conditions of bridges [9]. J. Seo et al presented a UAV-based approach for the inspection of a timber bridge [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying impacts on remote photogrammetric inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles

Zhang

Watson

Dobie

et al. 2020

Engineering Structures

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Remote photogrammetric inspection is a Non-Destructive Testing method used to quantify surface integrity and detect external discontinuities. The mobility and size of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) offer the flexibility to quickly deploy remote photogrammetric inspections for large-scale assets. In this paper, the results of a photogrammetric inspection are presented as a 3D profile, reconstructed from UAV captured images. Experiments were conducted indoors using a wind turbine blade section obtained from a recently decommissioned asset. The naturally occurring surface features representative of environmental wear were augmented with a small number of artificial features to aid in the visualisation of inspection quality. An autonomous UAV system for photogrammetric inspections is demonstrated and the influence of image parameters such as environmental light levels, motion blur and focal blur quantified in terms of their impact on the inspection accuracy. Over the range of parameter values studied, the poorest scenario was observed to cause a degradation in reconstruction error by a factor of 13 versus the optimal. Reconstruction quality when employing a laser range scanner to maintain standoff distance relative to the object during flight was also investigated. In this schema, the controller automatically generated a real-time adaptive flight path to follow the outer profile of the wind turbine blade and, consequently, demonstrated improved image quality during close-range inspection of an object with complex geometry. Inspection accuracy was quantified using the error of the photogrammetric reconstruction as compared to a model acquired using independent metrology equipment. While utilising the laser-based adaptive path, error in the reconstructed geometry was reduced by a factor of 2.7 versus a precomputed circular path. In the best case, the mean deviation was below 0.25 mm. Instances of wind turbine blade damage such as edge crushing, surface imperfections, early stage leading edge erosion were clearly observed in the textured 3D reconstruction profiles, indicating the utility of the successful inspection process. The results of this paper evaluate the impact of optical environmental effects on photogrammetric inspection accuracy, offering practical insight towards mitigation of negative effects.

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Autonomous and scalable control for remote inspection with multiple aerial vehicles

Cited by 16 publications

References 41 publications

Autonomous Ultrasonic Inspection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Autonomous Ultrasonic Inspection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Reconfigurable swarm robots for structural health monitoring: a brief review

Quantifying impacts on remote photogrammetric inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles

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