On the application of VTOL UAVs to the inspection of power utility assets

Montambault, Serge; Beaudry, Julien; Toussaint, Kristopher; Pouliot, Nicolas

doi:10.1109/carpi.2010.5624443

Cited by 60 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The number of rotors on these platforms can range from one (helicopter), to three (tricopter), four (quadcopter), six (hexacopter), or even eight (octocopter) and above. Advantages of these systems are that they are capable of VTOL, allowing operators to launch in space-limited environments and have responsive movement and hover capabilities making them very well-suited to inspection-related tasks or where focus on specific objects is required (Montambault et al 2010). The complexity and mechanically intricate designs of these systems can be disadvantageous as they require a higher degree of maintenance and larger draws on batteries or fuel to power.…”

Section: Rotary Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Goodbody

CoopsNicholas

MarshallPeter

et al. 2017

The Forestry Chronicle

147

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Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are capable of improving the efficiency of acquisition and providing fine spatial scale data for sustainable resource management. In this paper we begin by describing differences between UAS airframes, their successes and limitations, and list contemporary research applications. UAS compatible sensor technologies are discussed, including passive and active sensors. Finally, we detail a case study where UAS updated an Enhanced Forest Inventory (EFI) for a study area in interior British Columbia. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) from 2013 and Digital Aerial Photogrammetric (DAP) point clouds acquired using a UAS from 2015 were used to estimate individual tree height and volume increments. A total of 246 trees were detected using Canopy Height Models (CHMs) with 70% of these trees being matched in the ALS and DAP data sets. Mean tree growth between 2013 and 2015 from the CHM and 95 th percentile of height (P95) was estimated at 0.68 ± 0.05 and 0.50 m ± 0.05 m, respectively. Similarly, mean gross tree volume increments (m 3 ) were computed as 0.05 m 3 ± 0.005 m 3 and 0.03 m 3 ± 0.005 m 3 for the CHM and P95, respectively. The results indicate that information from UAS-DAP point clouds can generate spatially and temporally accurate inventories and have potential to inform a number of sustainable forest management activities.

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Section: Rotary Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fixed-wing platforms are limited in that they must remain in a constant state of forward motion, nullifying their ability to collect imagery of objects that require stationary capture, such as hydro-electric or bridge inspection tasks (Montambault et al 2010).…”

Section: Fixed-wing Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Goodbody

CoopsNicholas

MarshallPeter

et al. 2017

The Forestry Chronicle

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As noted by Merz and Chapman (2011) [12], UAS have been deployed for vegetation monitoring, photogrammetric survey and infrastructure inspection [13][14][15][16][17]. These craft have the advantage of allowing sensing with high spatial and spectral resolution at a relatively low cost, subject to the regulations of the country in which they are operated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pheno-Copter: A Low-Altitude, Autonomous Remote-Sensing Robotic Helicopter for High-Throughput Field-Based Phenotyping

et al. 2014

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Plant breeding trials are extensive (100s to 1000s of plots) and are difficult and expensive to monitor by conventional means, especially where measurements are time-sensitive. For example, in a land-based measure of canopy temperature (hand-held infrared thermometer at two to 10 plots per minute), the atmospheric conditions may change greatly during the time of measurement. Such sensors measure small spot samples (2 to 50 cm 2 ), whereas image-based methods allow the sampling of entire plots (2 to 30 m 2 ). Capturing images from an aircraft which is flown precisely at low altitude (10 to 40 m) to obtain high ground resolution data for every plot allows the rapid measurement of large numbers of plots. This OPEN ACCESSAgronomy 2014, 4 280 paper outlines the implementation of a customized robotic helicopter (gas-powered, 1.78-m rotor diameter) with autonomous flight control and software to plan flights over experiments that were 0.5 to 3 ha in area and, then, to extract, straighten and characterize multiple experimental field plots from images taken by three cameras. With a capacity to carry 1.5 kg for 30 min or 1.1 kg for 60 min, the system successfully completed >150 flights for a total duration of 40 h. Example applications presented here are estimations of the variation in: ground cover in sorghum (early season); canopy temperature in sugarcane (mid-season); and three-dimensional measures of crop lodging in wheat (late season). Together with this hardware platform, improved software to automate the production of ortho-mosaics and digital elevation models and to extract plot data would further benefit the development of high-throughput field-based phenotyping systems.

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“…Like many utilities, Hydro-Québec is looking at unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [18]. Although one may think that these platforms can already be used to inspect power industry infrastructures, regulatory changes and technical improvements are likely needed before it can be claimed that they can be used safely and efficiently.…”

Section: Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydro-Québec's Power Line Robotics Program: 15 years of development, implementation and partnerships

Montambault

Pouliot

2014

Proceedings of the 2014 3rd International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry

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This paper summarizes the work related to power line robotics over the past 15 years at Hydro-Québec's research institute (IREQ). Robotic platforms are presented as well as the inspection and maintenance systems equipping them. The paper also presents a new organizational unit recently established at IREQ and called the "Power Line Robotics Program" (PLRP). This novel structure's objective is to leverage the benefits of external collaboration and international interest in power line robotics, in order to provide Hydro-Québec with professional inspection services, manufacturing capacity and strategic funding for new developments. More recent activities related to non-destructive probes are also discussed. Examples of PLRP tasks and responsibilities are given, stating why this structure is relevant within a power utility and how it accelerates the use and benefit of robotics in the power industry.

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On the application of VTOL UAVs to the inspection of power utility assets

Cited by 60 publications

References 42 publications

Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Pheno-Copter: A Low-Altitude, Autonomous Remote-Sensing Robotic Helicopter for High-Throughput Field-Based Phenotyping

Hydro-Québec's Power Line Robotics Program: 15 years of development, implementation and partnerships

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On the application of VTOL UAVs to the inspection of power utility assets

Cited by 60 publications

References 42 publications

Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Unmanned aerial systems for precision forest inventory purposes: A review and case study

Pheno-Copter: A Low-Altitude, Autonomous Remote-Sensing Robotic Helicopter for High-Throughput Field-Based Phenotyping

Hydro-Qu&#x00E9;bec's Power Line Robotics Program: 15 years of development, implementation and partnerships

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Hydro-Québec's Power Line Robotics Program: 15 years of development, implementation and partnerships