Autonomous Offshore Wind Farm Inspection

“海上风电是英国的关键能源。在今后几年中，它将发挥越来越重要的作用，作为向更清洁和更可再生能源发展的能源组合的一部分。海上风力涡轮机（OWT）在海洋环境和天气方面都面临着重大的环境挑战。该项目由Perceptual Robotics牵头，并与ASV、布里斯托大学和VulcanUAV合作，将开发和测试海上涡轮机自主检测的关键技术。该团队将在现有陆上风力涡轮机检测能力的基础上，致力于将其与ASV提供的自主水面船集成，创建一个系统，该系统将自动部署和回收无人机，而无需人工干预。该项目的长期愿景是实现对OWT的完全自主检查-从自主船上工作，同时从陆地远程监控。与该项目相关的主要挑战包括机械部署，稳健运营，多车辆合作，通信以及大型数据集的处理和处理。该团队由Perceptual Robotics和VulcanUAV的无人机设计，建造和操作专家组成;通过ASV的自主海上车辆专家;布里斯托大学的计算机视觉专家以及ORE Catapult设施开发和测试系统的理想设施。为了共同解决在海上极端环境中运行自主系统的相关问题，该团队将需要使用现代控制理论、传感器、材料、计算机技术和人工智能算法来创建一个平台，用于海上涡轮机检查的完全自主系统不仅可以显著降低与持续的检查，而且还将提高质量和数量的检查数据。现代传感技术，包括布里斯托大学提供的视觉处理技术，将使感知机器人技术能够更接近和更准确地飞行叶片，从而改善图像并最大限度地提高飞行包线。这反过来将提供准确的状态监测和可能的寿命延长的潜力。英国目前是海上风能的世界领导者，该项目将在检查效率和质量方面进一步改变。"

"Offshore wind is a key energy source for the UK. It will play an increasingly significant role in future years, as part of an energy mix that is moving towards cleaner and more renewable sources. Offshore Wind Turbines (OWTs) have significant environmental challenges in terms of both the marine environment and the weather. This project, led by Perceptual Robotics and in partnership with ASV, the University of Bristol and VulcanUAV - will be developing and testing key technologies to address the autonomous inspection of offshore turbines.Building on an existing capability for the inspection of onshore wind turbines, the team will be working on integrating this with an autonomous surface boat provided by ASV, creating a system which will automatically deploy and recover the inspection drone without the need for human interaction. The long term vision of this project is to enable fully autonomous inspection for OWT - working from an autonomous boat whilst being monitored remotely from land. Key challenges associated with this project include mechanical deployment, robust operations, multi vehicle cooperation, communications and the handling and processing of large datasets.The team consists of specialists in drone design, construction and operation with Perceptual Robotics and VulcanUAV; specialists in autonomous marine vehicles through ASV; experts in computer vision with Bristol University and the ideal facilities in which to develop and test the system at the ORE Catapult facilities. Working together to solve the problems associated with operating an autonomous system in the extreme environment found offshore, the team will need to use modern control theory, sensors, materials, computer technology and AI algorithms to create a platform which can carry out rapid, robust inspections in the marine environment.A fully autonomous system for offshore turbine inspection will not only significantly reduce the costs associated with ongoing inspection, but will also improve the quality and quantity of the inspection data. Modern sensing, including the vision processing offered by the University of Bristol will allow Perceptual Robotics to fly closer and more accurately with respect to the blades, thereby improving the images and maximising the flight envelope. This in turn will offer the potential for accurate condition monitoring and possible lifetime extensions. The UK is currently a world leader in offshore wind energy and this project will provide a further step change in the efficiency and quality of inspections."