High performance and autonomous UAV for interactions with energized high voltage transmission lines

DroneVolt Canada最近推出了一款新的无人机产品。这款无人机名为LineDrone，由魁北克水电开发，可以降落在高压输电线路上，在不中断服务的情况下进行各种高价值的直接接触无损检测。这架无人机目前是人工驾驶的，因为几个传感器受到强电磁场的影响。这在昂贵/关键设备附近狭小的空间中带来了许多挑战。手动操作迫使飞行员立即停留在无人机下方，以进行着陆对准和避障。这使无人机的部署变得复杂，延长了行动时间，并阻止了在特别有用的情况下(例如，在河流上空)使用无人机。最后，由于其特殊的配置，无人机几乎不能在风速超过20公里/小时的条件下工作。所有这些限制都会造成压力大或经常不可能进行的操作，即使是对经验丰富的飞行员也是如此。因此，该项目的总体目标是允许无人机在各种环境条件下自主导航和降落在供电的电力线路上。这些能力将使DroneVolt能够为公用事业公司提供一种独特的产品，虽然易于使用和部署，但将允许它们安全地执行有价值的检查。作为该项目的一部分，DroneVolt、魁北克水电和舍布鲁克大学(4名教授、2名RA、1名博士后和9名研究生。学生)将汇集各自在无人机、高压输电线和机器人方面的专业知识，以提高这款无人机的性能，同时开发围绕高压输电线路自主操作所需的技术。该项目为DroneVolt和魁北克水电提供了一个独特的机会，以应对紧迫的需求。与大多数国家一样，电力网络正在迅速老化。相关的修复计划复杂且昂贵，而由于缺乏高质量的数据，这些操作的规划变得困难。这款无人机可以直接感知带电导体的剩余使用寿命，以实现更好的资产管理，从而大幅节省成本并减少服务中断。

DroneVolt Canada has recently launched a new drone product. This drone, the LineDrone, developed by Hydro-Québec, can land on high-voltage transmission lines to carry out various high-value direct contact non-destructive inspections without interruption of service. This drone is currently piloted manually, as several sensors are affected by the strong electromagnetic field. This poses a number of challenges in tight spaces near expensive/critical equipment. Manual operations force the pilot to stay immediately below the drone for landing alignment and obstacle avoidance. This complicates the deployment of the drone, lengthens operations and prevents its use in particularly useful situations (e.g., over rivers). Finally, due to its particular configuration, this drone can hardly operate in wind conditions above 20 km/h. All these constraints make for stressful or too often impossible operations, even for experienced pilots.The overall objective of this project is therefore to allow a drone to navigate and land autonomously on energized power lines in a wide range of environmental conditions. These capabilities would allow DroneVolt to offer utility companies a unique product which, while being easy to use and deploy, would allow them to safely perform valuable inspections. As part of this project, DroneVolt, Hydro-Québec and the Université de Sherbrooke (4 prof., 2 RA, 1 postdoc and 9 grad. students) will pool their respective expertise in dronautics, high-voltage power lines and robotics to improve the performance of this drone while developing the technologies necessary for autonomous operations around high-voltage transmission lines.This project represents a unique opportunity for DroneVolt and Hydro-Québec to respond to a pressing need. As in most countries, the electricity networks are aging rapidly. The associated restoration programs are complex and expensive, while planning for these operations is made difficult by the lack of quality data. This drone can sense directly the remaining useful life of energized conductors for better asset management, which lead to substantial savings and reduction of service interruptions.