4/1/2023 0 Comments Apg sensorsThey said this 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. “We’re delighted…and expect that the Army technology will help us rapidly facilitate many autonomous drone applications, particularly those for power utilities and commercial operations,” Laut said.Įngineers and drone experts at Manifold Robotics said 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. Manifold Robotics’ chief executive officer, Jeff Laut, discussed his vision for further development of the detection and avoidance technology. “Commercialization of our power line detection methods could have a significant impact on the development of autonomous UASs that operate near power lines.” Manifold Robotics has developed a power line safe drone platform from technology licensed from the CCDC Army Research Laboratory. “We are incredibly pleased to have Manifold Robotics as a licensee,” Hull said. 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. The same technology is beneficial to power companies that require routine and emergency inspections of many miles of power lines to detect tree encroachment, excessive sag and other issues.” “It is also useful for mapping out power grids or locating damaged wires, after a hurricane, or as part of a nation-building effort. “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,” Hull said. The detection algorithm developed at the lab will result in reductions in size, weight, power and cost.īy combining both sensing modalities in one sensor, Army researchers estimated the direction of power flow, something no traditional sensor can do, Hull said. 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. This allows the UAS to autonomously avoid or navigate alongside the detected power lines. the directional energy flux density) of nearby power lines. This method allows UAS equipped with these to use smaller, lower-power and lower-cost sensors to detect the location and Poynting vector (i.e. “Power lines are small and difficult to see with radar or optical sensors, but they generate large fields that can be easily detected with low-power, low-cost, passive electric- and magnetic-field sensors,” Hull said. This resulted in detecting power lines and informing the device’s autopilot to prevent collision with the wires. The goal is to provide autonomous systems sufficient time and distance to react, avoid wires and navigate follow-on maneuvers.Īrmy researcher David Hull developed the innovative approach using a unique configuration of field and 3-D sensors, in conjunction with low-power processing methods. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, researchers have developed a novel sensor and software application to detect and avoid energized power lines in the vicinity of unmanned aerial systems, or UAS. How will it see them? More importantly, how will it avoid this significant obstacle in its flight path?Īt the U.S. Imagine a small aerial drone navigating a field with electrical power lines.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |