A Somatosensory-Operation-Based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Power Line Inspection in First Person of View

In China, Overhead Transmission Lines cover a wide range of areas, and cross complex terrain as well as harsh environment. Therefore, power inspection has become an essential task to ensure the safety and stability of the power system. In recent years, the application of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the inspection, which has overcome most shortcomings of manual lines inspection, has attracted wide attention and implementation. However, the operation of UAV inspection nowadays still requires high level of techniques for the operator, and it needs two operators or above to cooperate simultaneously. For this reason, based on the Virtual Reality (VR) technology as well as the Man-In-The-Loop design concepts, a UAV lines inspection system that uses the head-to-tracking control and the technology of the first person of view (FPV) is proposed in this paper. With the help of this system, the operator can observe the ambient environment of the UAV and obtain real-time scene with depth information simply by turning his head. By carrying out simulated experiments, the inspection system can work efficiently under the circumstance of 110kV voltage level and a distance of 1.7m from power lines. Compared with the UAV line inspection widely used at present, this system will raise the safety and efficiency of inspection operation to a higher level, and achieve the goal of reducing the number of operators from two or above to one. Based on this system, this article conceives a set of live teaching platform for power inspection. The platform will better realize remote immersive interactive teaching.

I. Introduction

IN the process of traditional power line inspection, the most widely used method is manual periodic inspection. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, UAV plays an increasingly important role in the inspection, which can improve the efficiency of large-scale tree barrier modeling by a method of fast image recognition of transmission towers based on big data. [1] In the research of UAV line inspection, developed countries mainly focus on how to improve the efficiency of the inspection and save energy. Kansai Electric Power Co., Ltd. and Chiba University jointly developed the unmanned helicopter transmission line inspection system. This system features its unique automatic fault detection technology and three-dimensional image monitoring technology. Researchers at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organization) Communications Technology Center in Australia are working on the development of a small T21 unmanned helicopters. The feature of this machine is that it uses micro-turbine to provide power, which greatly reduces the vibration of the fuselage, so that the UAV can carry a laser range finder to provide a complete inspection function. Jones, Golightly and other scholars at Bangor University in the UK have developed a Vertical Take-Off and Landing UAV. A major innovation of such aircraft is the installation of an energy extraction device that can draw electrical energy from the wires. [2] [3] In China, how to apply the UAV inspection line to areas with complex terrain is a research hotspot. Some scholars have developed an automatic UAV-based inspection system and has implemented for asset assessment and defect detection for large-scale PV systems. [4] Shandong Electric Power Group Co., Ltd. conducted a flight test on the applicability of UAV inspections in high-altitude areas, with the aim of laying the foundation for the implementation of routine inspection lines for UAVs in high-altitude areas. [5] Wuhan UAV manufacturers have developed a parawing UAV. This UAV is suitable for flying in a terrain with relatively large undulations, and the image quality is high when hovering. [6]Gang Dong, Xiguang Chen and other scholars at Shandong Electric Power Research Institute designed an Unmanned Fixed-wings Aircraft for power inspection. This aircraft has a long distance of inspection and high imaging quality, which is suitable for inspection of overhead lines in a wide range of areas. [7] As a result, the UAV inspection has the advantage that traditional manual inspection cannot match: high safety and efficiency, not being strained to geographical conditions, being able to carry various detectors.