Environment News Service has a story about a non-imperial, non-murderous use for drone aircraft: Unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, are proving to be useful at assessing storm damage to electricity distribution systems to help utilities quickly restore power after an outage.The Electric Power Research Institute tested a variety of different drones at the New Mexico State University's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center, using high resolution video cameras to transmit images of power lines from a height of 5,000 to 7,000 feet.
Electric utilities can use these images to assess damage and pinpoint damaged locations following a storm. In the wake of a storm, damage assessment is a frequent power restoration choke point, especially when obstacles, such as downed trees, blocked roads or icy conditions make it tough for utility crews to get to and report on distribution line damage.
"Our research clearly shows that drones may provide utilities a tool that could reduce outage restoration time," said Matthew Olearczyk, senior program manager for distribution research at EPRI. "Using live steaming video information, utility system operators would be able to dramatically improve damage assessment," he said...
Electrical lines headed towards Hemble Hill Farm, shot by Mick Garratt, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
No comments:
Post a Comment