Electric Power Research Institute Phase-2 Project Completed

November 2021

ChangeAerial recently completed a phase-2 project with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).  The project was titled “Minimal Yet Optimal UAS Inspections.”  The general objective of the project was to determine minimal yet optimal (MYO) requirements for inspection of transmission and distribution structures, with the goal of laying the foundation for future automated approaches based on known structure configurations. ChangeAerial developed a modeling tool (MYOModel) and workflow to estimate camera station positions for automated inspection by unmanned aircraft system (UAS) imaging that provide MYO views of features requiring inspection. The model is applicable to multiple electric power structure configurations. The outputs of the model are positions and view geometries for a limited number of camera stations that provide optimal image collection of target features. This phase of the MYO project involved: 1) refinements and enhancements of the model, 2) UAS imaging tests to validate whether camera stations and view perspectives predicted by the MYOModel yield images where targets are correctly observable (e.g., unobstructed), and 3) UAS imaging tests to determine image spatial resolution requirements for detecting target damage and wear.

ChangeAerial presented the above described project at EPRI’s annual UAS workshop.  A video recording of ChangeAerial’s presentation is available at the below link; simply select the “ATTACHMENTS” tab, expand the “Media” section of the page, and play the recording of “Session 1 Flight Automation and Inspection Quality.”  A PDF of the slides may also be downloaded from the web site.  

EPRI Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Electric Utilities Virtual Workshop

https://www.epri.com/events/E606A97E-209E-4470-9AAA-58FBFB8ED141