Integration of Customized Commercial UAV s with Open-Source Tools in a Heterogeneous Multi-UAV System for Power-Lines Inspection

This paper presents our approach to the power-lines inspection application with a team of multiple heterogeneous UAV s that provides the required flexibility to tackle with different use cases such as fault detection or periodic inspection. Our solution required proper integration of several commercial UAV s customizing their hardware and building a software architecture based on open-source tools under the ROS (Robotic Operating System) framework to enhance adaptability, specialization, and overall mission effectiveness. The team, comprising fixed-wing VTOLs and multicopters, collaboratively executes fully autonomous mission for monitoring the aerial power-lines, the transmission towers and their components in real-time. Heterogeinity is crucial to tackle different use cases, since for instance the fixed-wing VTOL can provide fast response for the detection of faults, while the agility and precision of multicopters facilitate detailed periodic inspections. The paper presents validation results of our approach both in simulation and in real power-lines inspection campaigns.