Long Range Unmanned Aircraft System for Power Line Inspection of Brazilian Electrical System

Abstract

Power line inspection is an essential procedure in the power lines maintenance area, especially thinking about service availability and energy efficiency. Aerial inspection of electric power transmission lines is typically performed using human-piloted helicopters, which is a procedure that is both expensive and prone to accidents taking risks to human beings' lives. The work presents a solution based on UAS (unmanned aircraft system) for inspecting power lines. In this context a R & D project of an unmanned aircraft system to be used for performing complete aerial inspection of overhead power lines is being executed by ITA (Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica) (Technological Institute of Aeronautics) in Brazil. Special attention is dedicated to the communication system conception in order to comply with Remotely Piloted Aircraft System definition in the context of long endurance operations of the system. It presents a solution based on LTA (lighter than air) platform in order to extend the communication range beyond line of sight.