Autonomous UAV based power line inspection
The inspection of power lines is the most important task, which enhances the confidence of the Electricity Distribution Network. Natural conditions and artificial patrol routes need to spend a lot of manpower and so, transmission inspection based on unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) is gaining attention
2025-06-28 16:30:34 - Adil Khan
Autonomous UAV based power line inspection
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryThe inspection of power lines is the most important task, which enhances the confidence of the Electricity Distribution Network. Natural conditions and artificial patrol routes need to spend a lot of manpower and so, transmission inspection based on unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) is gaining attention because of their low cost and human power. Data logging abilities of UAV include monitoring the associated line structure and defects by means of sensors and cameras. The approach consists of the self-sufficient flying of UAV, the collection of data while monitoring power line, examining the high voltage, thermal temperature along with live video streaming. The idea suggested is that a robust and economical solution exists, that can autonomously check power lines.The importance of regular inspection and timely maintenance is crucial to reduce resource input, keeps costs down, and restore electricity quickly. This idea will provides a solution to the most crucial task of inspecting high power transmission lines in less time and low cost. The result obtained by the project will be relevant and have command of filtering only the require data in real time. This will save life as well as human time.
Project ObjectivesThe main aim of this project is to design and implement a tech pro device which will be able to reduce human labor and provide the ease of data acquisition while doing transmission line inspection and provides the relevant data in real time.
The specific objectives were achieved as follows:
- To entrust the drone with the inspection of power lines in areas that are difficult to access
- To allow the pilot of flying an unmanned aircraft through areas which are out of the pilot’s sight
- To make drones able of detecting damages and maintenance needs in the same way an experienced power line inspector do today
- To improve the work efficiency
- To save human life and reduce the interference to HV lines
- To reduce the cost of inspection
- To move towards technology and smartness
The first part of making UAV autonomous is to use the Google mapping of the area where inspection is require and its route fixation from one tower to another by using the methodology of mission planner of Ardupiolet microcontroller along with the usage of failsafe mode in a UAV allowing it to get back to its original take off position in case of omit the route of its position and in other power and electronics related issues. The second part is of the detection of broken lines and other endanger instruments of transmission line by image processing using a camera fixing with the gimbal which is a pivoted support that allows rotation of any object in a single axis. So, a three-axis gimbal allows any object mounted on the gimbal to be independent of the movement of the one holding the gimbal. A thermal camera will be mounted along with it to find out the heating areas through image processing in a transmission line this will be done by using ESP or raspberry pi microcontroller with the technique of internet of things. The other is to find out the high voltage at insulated areas and poles of transmission system by using a device of a suitable controller. The corona losses will be detected by UV light phenomenon as this loss produce a white flash in UV helping to find out the losses by either producing UV Or converging the UV from surrounding and targeted it to the particular area. The telemetry will also be used in this project to constantly providing the data of direction and axis of UAV so that on flight we can make changes and record it.
Benefits of the ProjectThe drones are a long time investment that are being using in every outreach industry and provides an end to end top-notch solution to the areas which is difficult for a human being to access and provides information in real time.
Here are some basic points that justify that inspection through UAV is a suitable and cheapest solution
- Drones are useful both in emergency situations and to keep up with the regular maintenance needs
- Drones save you with the risk of sending human to areas which is difficult to access and have dangerous environment
- It provides low cost and less time to configure data effectively and complete each task performs in the power grid
- It provides a complete overview of the inspected assets
The drone itself is not the crown jewel. It is vital to note that the drone’s role as part of a complete end-to-end system merely is as an assistant to your ground crew. To utilize the drone as an effective operational tool, you also need a top-notch software for data gathering, analyzing and reporting. When these components are in place and able to communicate seamlessly, you will start seeing lower costs, safer work procedures, and, consequently, better overall results for your company. We solve the problem of long range inspection along with its communication and navigation application. The design of the system proposes the idea of inspection using a Quadrotor of which stabilization based on the PID values of a controller. The inspection based on vision based cameras provides the visionary data in real time using cloud based IPs. The proposed system will be able to detect the transmission losses due to overheating producing in the lines due to exertion of stress and pressure. There are multiple sensors includes BME (module) which measures the temperature, pressure and humidity of overhead lines. The data collection of the relevant information will be plot on the cloud based platform Things speak and can be executing in real time. The breakage or other physical damage of the lines will be capture through GO-PRO cameras. These cameras have a specific resolution calculated in order to have a clear data from a specific distance maintain to line in order to avoid magnetic interference. The thermal imaging technique will also encounter the heat losses of lines. The UAV will be autonomous and can be able to even monitor through the ground level.
Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther Industries Energy , Transportation , Security Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies Robotics, Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 48470 | |||
| tarot controller | Equipment | 1 | 14938 | 14938 |
| 450 chase | Equipment | 1 | 2198 | 2198 |
| thermal camera | Equipment | 1 | 14734 | 14734 |
| brushless motors | Equipment | 4 | 1050 | 4200 |
| ESC | Equipment | 4 | 850 | 3400 |
| battery 3s | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| electronics | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| shipping charges | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |