8 accepted papers
Detecting and estimating distances to power lines is a challenge for both human UAV pilots and autonomous systems, which increases the risk of unintended collisions. We present a mmWave radar–based perception system that provides spherical sensing coverage around a small UAV for robust power line de…
This paper proposes a method to robustify model predictive path integral (MPPI) control by directly taking into account the effects of parameter uncertainty into the controller formulation. Leveraging the recent notion of closed-loop state sensitivity, the proposed MPPI can consider the state sensit
We present a fully autonomous self-recharging drone system capable of long-duration sustained operations near powerlines. The drone is equipped with a robust onboard perception and navigation system that enables it to locate powerlines and approach them for landing. A passively actuated gripping mec…
This work proposes a novel drone system designed to autonomously track and follow power lines and reconstruct them in 3D with a point cloud representation based on mmWave radar measurements. The system is composed of a GNSS-enabled quadrotor UAV equipped with a combined mmWave radar sensor and onboa…
Drone grasping on power lines for recharging is challenging since it requires the gripper to be lightweight, carried by a drone, and efficient for a firm grasp. A deep understanding of the power line nature and its magnetic characteristic helps ease such challenges and bring new knowledge to gripper…
Autonomously recharging UAVs from existing infrastructure has enormous potential for various applications, such as infrastructure inspection, surveillance, and search and rescue. While it is an active area of research, most related work focuses on alternating current (AC) infrastructure while very l…
Today, many inspection domains utilize the benefits of drones to monitor and inspect infrastructure in an efficient manner. The energy grid is challenged by frequent and thorough inspection to stay operational. So far, drones have already been introduced to solve this challenge. However, the inspect…
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have introduced benefits in many areas of the energy sector. Today, power line sensor deployment is manually executed on passive power lines using helicopters, introducing great risks, costs and difficulties for the power distribution companies and the human operators…