Drone sensor method detects, avoids urban power lines
The goal is to provide autonomous systems sufficient time and distance to detect and react to avoid power lines – which are small and difficult to see with typical sensing methods – and then navigate follow-on maneuvers. The approach, using a unique configuration of magnetic field and 3-D sensors, in conjunction with low-power processing methods, resulted in detecting power lines and informing the device’s autopilot to prevent collision with the wires.
“Power lines are small and difficult to see with radar or optical sensors,” says Army researcher David Hull who developed the approach, “but they generate large fields that can be easily detected with low-power, low-cost, passive electric- and magnetic-field sensors.”
The method, say the researchers, allows UASs equipped with these to use smaller, lower-power and lower-cost sensors to detect the location and Poynting vector – the directional energy flux density – of nearby power lines. This allows the UAS to autonomously avoid or navigate alongside the detected power lines.
While existing wire-detection and wire-avoidance technologies that use radar and/or optical sensors have had commercial success, they are known to be expensive, bulky, and power intensive with technical limitations. The detection algorithm developed at the lab, say the researchers, will result in size, weight, power, and cost reduction. And by combining both sensing modalities in one sensor, the researchers were able to estimate the direction of power flow – something no traditional sensor can do
“This technology has significant dual-use potential and is expected to offer the military a better means for ground and air-based vehicles to avoid electric power lines when moving,” says Hull. “It is also useful for mapping out power grids or locating damaged wires, after a hurricane, or as part of a nation-building effort. The same technology is beneficial to power companies that require routine and emergency inspect of many miles of power lines to detect tree encroachment, excessive sag, and other issues.”
The lab recently announced a patent license agreement with Manifold Robotics, a startup company based in New York, who will produce the new technology for drone-based commercial applications.
“Commercialization of our power line detection methods,” says Hull, “could have a significant impact on the development of autonomous UASs that operate near power lines.”
Engineers and drone experts at Manifold Robotics say they intend to create a drone-based system that will detect power lines at a distance and determine their precise location to enable safe navigation. This, they say, will overcome the factors that limit the efficacy of drones in the vicinity of power lines and unleash their full potential for autonomous power line inspection as well as other Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations.
Jeff Laut, Manifold Robotics chief executive officer adds, “With the rapid proliferation of drones for autonomous applications, we imagine that freight delivery companies may also be able to leverage our technology and transform power line rights-of-way into superhighways for drone freight deliveries.”
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