Mobile GIS Services Limited - A Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for Cost effective Remote Sensing of Powerlines for Vegetation Management

架空电力线植被管理（VM）是网络运营商必不可少的安全操作，也是电力公司最大的维护费用之一（OfGem）。如果没有虚拟机，就会发生火灾、电气危险和资产损失，给人员、财产和经济带来严重风险。作为参考，虚拟机相关的停机成本为1200亿美元/年（电力研究所）。在过去的一年里，英国的停电次数翻了一番，达到505次。一次停电的经济成本可能高达1亿英镑（OfGem）。糟糕的虚拟机造成了17%的停机（Eaton, 2014）。对经营者征收的罚款很高。2014年2月，14万户家庭/企业断电5天，运营商支付了3400万英镑的赔偿金！Ofgem规定从2015年起加大处罚力度。为了规划VM，公用事业公司需要准确的数据，了解哪些资产附近正在增长。有4种方法：手动，地面激光，机载激光雷达（光探测和测距）和激光雷达UAS（无人机系统）。它们在成本、（数据收集/后处理）速度和可用性方面都有所不同。无人机的发展趋势越来越明显。然而，由于低飞行（1小时）、有效载荷能力和依赖耗时的专家处理，无人机的成本/效益现在也受到质疑。目前，只有高压电线（400/132KV）以每5年1/5网络的速度进行测绘，这就对测绘数据的长期价值提出了质疑。数百万英里的低压网络（33/11KV）根本没有被映射，使它们没有有意义的VM。这导致了全球虚拟机行业的大量机会，估计价值150亿美元（Gartner），雇佣了15万人。超过250家英国公司经营或供应虚拟现实行业。该项目旨在验证具有成本效益的远程飞行无人机的市场可行性，该无人机可以每天自主运行8小时，并将实时虚拟机数据提供给定制的“游戏引擎”，该引擎可以创建超轻型3D合成环境扫描，可以被新手虚拟机规划人员阅读和理解。

Overhead powerline vegetation management (VM) is an essential safety operation forNetwork Operators, and is amongst the largest maintenance expense for electric companies(OfGem). Fires, electrical hazards, and asset damage occur without VM, presenting seriousrisks to people, property and the economy. For reference, VM-related outages cost the US$120 billion/year (Electric Power Research Institute).In the past year, UK outages doubled to 505. Economic cost of one outage can be £0.1bn(OfGem). Poor VM is responsible for 17% of outages (Eaton, 2014). Penalties levied againstoperators are high. In Feb 2014, when 140,000 homes/businesses had no power for 5days,operators paid £34m just in compensation! Ofgem stipulate higher penalties from 2015.To plan VM, utility companies need accurate data re what's growing near which asset. Thereare 4 methods: manual, ground laser, airborne LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging),andLIDAR UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System). All differ in cost, speed (of data collection /postprocessing), and usability. There is a growing trend towards UAS. However, because of lowflight (1hr), payload capability, and reliance on time-consuming processing by an expert, UAScost/benefit is now also questioned.Today, only high volt power lines (400/132KV) are mapped, at the rate of 1/5th networkevery 5yrs, raising questions as to longterm value of data mapped. Millions of low voltnetwork miles (33/11KV) are not mapped at all, leaving them without meaningful VM.This has led to a wealth of global VM opportunities in an industry estimated at $15bn USD(Gartner), and employing c150,000 people. Over 250 UK companies operate or supply VMsector.This project seeks to validate market feasibility for a cost effective long-flight UAS that canoperate autonomously for 8hrs/day, and feed realtime VM data to a bespoke ‘game engine’that can create ultra-lightweight 3D synthetic environment scans which can be read andunderstood by a novice VM planner.