A Novel Unmanned Aerial System for Power Line Inspection and Maintenance Operations

Ensuring the integrity and reliability of power lines is essential to maintain continuous service and avoid potential catastrophes. However, the increasingly extensive infrastructure represents formidable challenges in terms of inspection, maintenance, and worker safety. This paper presents the design, development and experimental validation of the Main Local Manipulation Platform (MLMP), a versatile aerial manipulator designed to install and remove a wide variety of devices on power lines while perched, without interrupting the power. The paper outlines the main design considerations, challenges encountered and solutions applied, including electrical protection, device manipulation and perching strategies. Multiple validation experiments, both in controlled and real scenarios, demonstrated the platform's effectiveness in the installation of clip-type bird diverters, cable separators and charging stations. The results underscore the potential of the MLMP to transform power line inspection and maintenance operations, improving the efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring worker safety.