MAV tele-operation constrained on virtual surfaces for inspection of infrastructures

This paper presents a tele-operation system that enables a MAV to be controlled on virtual surfaces by an unskilled operator using high-level inputs. These virtual surfaces can be placed relatively to the infrastructure to be inspected, in order to ensure safety of the flight and repeatability of the acquisition conditions of the inspection data (e.g. at a constant distance from the infrastructure). The architecture, interface and embedded controller of the tele-operation system are described, and results from flight experiments in an industrial warehouse are provided for three typical inspection scenarios of infrastructures.