Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE
4
International Conference on Control Applications
Munich, Germany, October 4-6, 2006
Modeling and Control of a Robotic Power Line Inspection Vehicle
Dewi Jones, Ian Golightly, Jonathan Roberts and Kane Usher.
Abstract—Power line inspection is a vital function for
electricity supply companies but it involves labor-intensive and
expensive procedures which are tedious and error-prone for
humans to perform. A possible solution is to use an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with video surveillance
equipment to perform the inspection. This paper considers how
a small, electrically driven rotorcraft conceived for this
application could be controlled by visually tracking the
overhead supply lines. A dynamic model for a ducted-fan
rotorcraft is presented and used to control the action of an Air
Vehicle Simulator (AVS), consisting of a cable-array robot.
Results show how visual data can be used to determine, and
hence regulate in closed loop, the simulated vehicle’s position
relative to the overhead lines.
I. INTRODUCTION
E LECTRICITY companies world-wide are required to
inspect distribution lines on a regular basis in order to
comply with the law, ensure public safety, minimize supply
disruption due to defective components and manage their
assets effectively. Fig. 1 shows a typical 11KV overhead
line installation consisting of open conductors on wooden
support poles.
Fig. 1 Aerial view of overhead line.
A recently proposed concept [1] is to perform the
inspection using a small, unmanned, electrically-driven
rotorcraft which draws its supply directly from the overhead
lines by means of a pantograph type power pick-up. In terms
Manuscript received January 29, 2006. This work was supported by the
Royal Academy of Engineering and the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Dewi Jones and Ian Golightly are with the School of Informatics,
University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 1UT, UK (phone: +44 1248
382701; fax: +44 1248 361429; e-mail: dewi@informatics.bangor.ac.uk).
Jonathan Roberts and Kane Usher are with the Autonomous Systems
Laboratory, CSIRO, Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies, PO
Box 883, Kenmore, Qld 4069, Australia (phone: +61 7 3327 4501; fax: +61
7 3327 4455; e-mail: jonathan.roberts@csiro.au).
0-7803-9796-7/06/$20.00 ©2006 IEEE
WeB08.
of safety, expense and quality of data this concept has many
potential advantages compared with inspecting by foot
patrol or manned helicopter, as currently done by many
electricity companies. Achieving reliable power pick-up
needs good control of the position and attitude of the robotic
vehicle relative to the overhead conductors. Although GPS
is a valuable navigational tool for this application its
inherent errors, combined with uncertain knowledge of
overhead line locations, make it insufficiently accurate for
control purposes [1]. Instead, visual servoing is a
prospective means of achieving precise local control
because, as shown in Fig. 1, the conductors form a
prominent natural beacon against the background clutter. In
order to investigate this proposition on a laboratory scale, a
small ducted-fan rotorcraft is currently being constructed.
The need for suitable experimental platforms for
autonomous UAV research has been recognized [2]. A
ducted-fan of similar design to that described by Sherman et
al [3] was chosen because its construction is relatively
simple and it is expected to be less prone to collision
damage than a conventional helicopter. However,
conducting experimental robotics with low-cost aerial
vehicles is notoriously difficult. Much attention is diverted
from research issues to addressing the aircraft’s engineering
problems and the damage which arises from inevitable
crashes produces a very slow experimental cycle. For this
reason, it was decided to conduct the design and test of the
visual control software on an Air Vehicle Simulator (AVS).
This paper describes the AVS tests and is in three parts.
First, a model of the ducted-fan unit is derived, which is
then programmed onto the AVS so that it reproduces the
required dynamics in real-time. Second, an overview of the
visual tracking software is given. Finally, results of visual
tracking experiments on a scale model of a power line are
presented to demonstrate the proposed method’s feasibility.
II. DUCTED-FAN MODEL AND SIMULATION
The ducted-fan design [1] is based on the ‘flying
platform’ principle [4] where the Centre of Gravity (CG) is
deliberately placed above the aircraft centre (AC) to give
dynamic stability in hover [5]. However, active (gyro)
stabilization is necessary to obtain an acceptable response.
Lift and yaw control are achieved by changing the propeller
speeds collectively or differentially. Ando [6] has derived a
simple 3 degree of freedom planar model for this
configuration which suggests that placing the CG within a
very small range of locations above the AC gives both static
and dynamic stability in hover. Control of pitch and roll and
hence horizontal velocity is accomplished by moving this
mass to produce a moment about the CG. The system is
632
under-actuated. Ando’s model can then be extended, as ª Δx º «
ª 0 1 0
§ ∂M AC
0
∂H A ·
0 0
∂M AC
0 0º
» ª Δx º
« Δx » «− a13b1 0 0 ¨¨ a13 + a 22 ¸¸ (a11b1 − a32 b2 − a13b3 ) − a13 0 0» «
shown in Fig. 2, to include a servo-controlled mass (mp) on « » « © ∂x A
 ∂x A ¹
 ∂x A »
» « Δx »
« x A » « 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0» « x A »
a prismatic joint with origin at a distance " above AC. « » «
− a 22
∂H A
a 22 (b2 − b1 )
»« »
« xA » = « 0 0 0
∂x A
0 0 0» « x A »
Moving this mass to the right causes a clockwise moment « θ » «
«  » « 0 0 0 0 0 1
»« θ »
0 0» « »
« θ » «a b ∂H A ∂M AC θ »
MAC and the horizontal thrust component HA produced, as «Δz » « 33 1
0 0 − a33
∂x A
0 a33
∂θ
0 0» «
» «Δz »
the duct pitches, accelerates it to the right. « A» « 0 A
0 0 0 0 0 1 0»» «  »
¬«ΔzA ¼» « ¬«Δz A ¼»
«¬ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0»¼
zA, zp
{P}
Δx ª 0
« § ∂H A
0
∂M AC · »
0º
« a11 ¨¨ a 22 + a13 ¸¸ 0»
0 Fxp + « © ∂x A ∂x A ¹ » (3)
« 0 0 0»
xp « ∂H A »ª F º
«− a 22 − a 22 0» « xp »
CG mpg « ∂x A x
»« g »
« 0 0 0 » « ΔT »
¬ A¼
«− a ∂M AC
− a33 0»
« 13 ∂x A »
« 0 0 0»
{A} TA «
«¬ 0 0
»
1»¼
HA
AC Control system design proceeds by sequential loop
MAC closure according to increasing time constant of the
θ xA dynamics. First, the force (Fxp) on the control mass is given
by feedback of Δx and Δx , producing a tight position-
Z0 mag control loop whose response time is much shorter than that
{W} of the duct dynamics. This introduces a non-minimum phase
(NMP) characteristic into the response, because the reaction
X0 force as the mass is accelerated to the right causes the initial
Fig. 2 Co-ordinate reference frames, forces and moments for the ducted-fan duct rotation to be counter-clockwise. Second, a pitch-rate
model.; {W} = world, {A} = aircraft, {P} = control mass. feedback loop is designed using the root-locus technique
Assuming that in hover the thrust TA is adjusted to give a and provides the effective position demand (Δxd) to the
null component along the zA axis, a linearized model in {A} control mass servo-system. Third, the pitch-rate demand is
for the accelerations of the control mass and the duct is : produced as the error between the rotorcraft’s lateral
position relative to the overhead lines xA (to be measured by
ª§ " 2 1 ·¸ º
Ǭ +
1
+ −
1
−
"
0» the vision system) and its demanded position xAd (above the
ªΔxº «¨© I ma m p ¸¹ ma I »ª Fxp + m p gθ º centre line). Finally, the thrust is determined by the error
« x » « 1 1 » « H + (m + m ) gθ » (1)
« A» = « − 0 0» « A p a » (ΔzA) between the rotorcraft’s height above the lines (again
« θ » « ma ma » « M AC + m p g"θ + m p gΔx »
« » « " 1 »« » to be measured by the vision system) and its demanded
¬ Δz¼ « − 0 0» ¬ ΔT A
I I
¼ position (a fixed height above the line). Fig. 3 shows the
« 0 0 0 1 »¼
¬ control loops.
ΔzAd
where I is the sum of the individual moments of inertia of mp
+ _
and mA about yp and yA respectively. For a gust wind 5
s+5
5.5(s+0.35)
(s+3)
velocity x g , the aerodynamic force (HA) and torque (MAC) fan height hold
dynamics compensator

on the duct are given by [6]: .

ΔTA ΔzA 1/s ΔzA
∂H
H A = − A ( x A + x g ) and M AC = (2)
∂M AC  ∂M AC . .
AVS (z)
θ− ( x A + x g ) wind gust
xg Rotorcraft xA
∂x A ∂θ ∂x A model 1/s
dynamics . AVS (x)
xA
θ
Using the approximate relationships in [6], tentative Δxd
θ
values for the aerodynamic derivatives in (2) were _
_ +
estimated. This predicts that placing the CG within a small 0.3 (s+2.2)
(s+0.01)(s+10)
125
s+125 xAd
region just above the duct lip will yield a stable system. pitch rate + pitch rate
compensator gyro

Substituting (2) into (1) with : + Kv

+ Kp
§ "2 1 1 ·¸ 1 1 "
a11 = ¨ + + a22 = a33 = a13 =
¨ I ma m p ¸ ma I I Fig. 3 Block diagram of the system to be simulated on the AVS; thick
© ¹
b1 = m p g b2 = (m p + ma ) g b3 = m p g" broken lines show xA and ΔzA obtained from visual measurements.

It was necessary to make some modifications to the

gives the state space model for control system design: model/controller (3) before transferring it to the AVS:

633
(i) The two inputs required by the AVS are the simulated
velocities x A and Δz A , so the free integrators on these
terms in (3) are omitted and their function is provided by the
AVS.
(ii) Although the AVS can move the simulated vehicle to
specific Cartesian co-ordinates within its workspace, at its
present stage of development it cannot control orientation.
The pitch angle output θ is therefore not used.
(iii) The AVS sample period is set at 0.1s (largely
determined by the computational time of the image
processing software). The fast payload mass loop in (3) is
therefore removed because the AVS cannot reproduce the
NMP pitch response it produces. Analytically, this is done
by imposing the constraint Δx = 0 in (1). It is important not
to do control design with the resultant reduced-order model
because the NMP characteristic restricts compensator
pole/zero location and loop gain. Fig. 5 Sequence of synthesized images produced by the simulation.
(iv) Co-ordinate transformations are included between {A}
(the airframe) and {W} (the AVS workspace), although this
has no practical effect for the small angles involved here. III. THE AIR VEHICLE SIMULATOR
(v) For random input, the wind velocity x g is provided by a The AVS [7] is a four wire cable-array construction
Dryden gust model; otherwise a pulse is used. with a workspace approximately 10m long, 8m wide and 6m
The system in Fig. 3 was discretized, converted to state high. Four winches are used to adjust the cable lengths to
space representation and simulated in Simulink. Fig. 4 position the simulated vehicle within the workspace. As
shows the response to a 1m step demand in lateral shown in Fig. 6, the ‘vehicle’ consists of a pod suspended at
displacement. The model predicts that the response will be the conjunction of the cables, which houses a ‘flight’
slow but this is acceptable as it is intended to operate in a computer, video cameras, inertial measurement unit and
1/5th scale environment. Fig. 4 also predicts a poorly battery power pack. At present, 640x480 grey level images
damped response – this is difficult to counteract because the are captured by a single forward-looking camera pitched
NMP terms in the model place limits on the trade-off down by 20° from the horizontal; multiple cameras will be
between disturbance rejection (bandwidth) and damping. used in future work.
1.5
Xdisplacement (m)

0.5

-0.5

0.1

0.05
pitch (r)

-0.05

0.02

0.01
height (m)

-0.01

-0.02
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
time (s)

Fig. 4 Response of model/controller to a 1 m/s step demand in lateral
displacement; off-line simulation.
The simulation output can be used to drive a Matlab
visualization program which synthesizes images as would be
seen from a camera mounted on a vehicle flying above a
span of overhead lines. Fig. 5 shows a sequence of
synthesized images of the view from an on-board camera at
2s intervals as the rotorcraft responds to a 2s pulse wind gust
of 1m/s velocity applied at t = 0. The visualization program
also generates the scene as viewed from an external camera.
Fig. 6 Photograph of AVS pod suspended above the 1/5th scale powerlines.
Fig. 7 shows that low-level control of the winch drives
is done by 4 HC12 micro-controllers, receiving demanded
cable lengths from a central computer via CAN bus. The
cable lengths are measured incrementally by encoders on the
winch motors, with a potentiometer for calibration to
absolute position. The central computer calculates the
inverse kinematics, i.e. the cable lengths required for a given
Cartesian pod position. It is also responsible for computing
the real-time rotorcraft model and closing the servo loop,

634
based on visual measurements. The rotorcraft model is
represented as an S-function in Simulink and is ported
simply by copying the state-space matrices to the real-time
controller program. The visual tracking algorithm is
executed by the pod’s on-board computer and measurements
communicated to the control computer by radio LAN.
Synchronization and secure transmission of data between
concurrent processes is maintained by the Dynamic Data
Exchange (DDX) software package [8].
Video capture and Display and
image processing user interaction
Radio LAN
LAN
DDX
Store
LAN
Rotorcraft model,
visual servoing
and AVS kinematics
CAN bus
Low level AVS control
Fig. 7 Process architecture for communication and synchronization.
IV. VISUAL TRACKING
A. Principle of the method
The conductors are distinguished from the background
by recognizing the prominent pattern of three converging
straight lines which they project into the image. (The
conductors form catenaries but from a viewpoint above the
lines they are almost straight lines). The basic tool is the
Hough Transform (HT), overlaid with pattern-matching
heuristics that form an internal model of the overhead lines’
salient features. The relationship between the co-ordinates of
a point on the power line and its co-ordinates in the image
can be obtained from the geometric transformations used to
generate the visualization in Fig. 5. The HT of any line in
the scene can then be calculated for a given camera pose.
Three converging lines in the image produce the idealized 3-
point HT pattern illustrated in Fig. 8.
ρ AHT space during initial acquisition. Essentially, the tracker
d centre is selected (i.e. the nearest to the predicted location).
θ squares. If the centre search square is empty, its position is
Fig. 8 Illustration of how the HT pattern varies with (left) lateral
displacement and (right) height of the camera (insets show images).
Using the geometric model, it may be shown that, for
fixed orientation and height, a lateral displacement of the
camera either side of the centre line causes the HT co-
ordinates (ρ and θ) of the lines to slide along a straight path,
as shown in Fig. 8. Changing the height of the camera
635
causes both the angle and separation of the conductors in the
image to change, corresponding to a varying distance d in
the HT. These two measurements are relatively insensitive
to each other. They are affected by camera orientation but
this is not expected to vary much in this application.
Obtaining values of lateral displacement (xA) and height
change (ΔzA) from visual measurements therefore requires
that at least 2 conductors be tracked.
B. Acquisition and tracking
The tracking loop consists of the following stages:
• Capture the image and enhance its contrast;
• Form an edge map by gradient computation and non-
maximum suppression;
• Compute the Hough Transform and apply a threshold;
• Form the Aggregated Hough Transform (AHT) by
clustering (ρ, θ) points in the HT;
• Perform Tracking or Acquisition on points in the AHT;
• Compute xA and ΔzA from (ρ, θ) via calibration;
• Compute the AVS control signal and loop to the start.
The aggregation step [9] accounts for the fact that, in
any real image, a straight or near-straight line is composed
of multiple segments which are almost co-linear. The HT
typically contains many clusters of points that are candidates
to represent the conductors. The aggregation step places a
window on all the points in a cluster in turn and counts the
number of other points enclosed. The point at the centre of
that window which contains the largest number of other
points is selected as most representative of the cluster. All
points except this one are removed. Because it rejects the
influence of points at the periphery of the cluster almost
entirely, this procedure selects a representative point very
effectively. It is also quick, because it only takes account of
the number of pixels within a window, not their location.
Aggregation yields the AHT - a sparse, binary
representation of the HT in which the points are tracked.
C. Rule-based tracking
Tracking begins by placing three search squares in the
applies a set of rules that embody the pattern that the 3
conductors are expected to form in the AHT. If a search
square contains more than one point, the one nearest the
If a search square is empty, its size is incremented (up to a
maximum) at the next iteration; otherwise it is set to its
minimum size. A minimum separation condition between
the three search squares is enforced. Normal tracking
proceeds if a valid point is present in all three search
estimated as the average of the left and right squares. If the
right square (only) is empty, it is assigned to a position that
is symmetric to the left square with respect to the centre;
vice versa if the left square is empty. A tracking failure
occurs if two or more search squares are empty. If there are
more than a specified number of contiguous failures, the
system reverts to acquisition mode. Sometimes, the system
enters a relatively stable state where the centre and right xˆ A = a0 + a1ρ + a2θ (5)
search squares lock on to the left and centre conductor
which was programmed into the visual servoing code.
points in the AHT, leaving the left search square
consistently empty and the right conductor point undetected. testD2: mean height= 0.90352m
This situation is corrected by initiating an extra ‘shadow’ 150

angle (deg)
square to the right of the right-hand square. If this 100
consistently picks up a valid point then the three search
squares are corrected, as shown in Fig. 9. 50
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

100

radius (pixels)
L L 0

-100
L C C
search square 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

conductor point in AHT C R R

lat disp = -0.3823 + 0.0015467 * rho + 0.004131 * theta

estimated lat disp (m)

E 0.2
time R
0
Fig. 9 Correcting for mis-placed search squares.
-0.2

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

D. Line acquisition and recovery
height = 0.89615 + 0.23295 * 1/d
At the start of a mission, the rotorcraft is deployed by

estimated height (m)

1

hoisting or manually flying it to a position just above the

overhead lines. For acquisition, all points in the AHT are 0.9

regarded as candidate centers of the 3-point template. At 0.8

each candidate point, search squares are centered at the
expected (ρ, θ) values of the side-lines. If a point is detected
in one (or both) search squares, its distance from the center
of the square is recorded. Candidate points whose search
squares are both empty are eliminated. A test is applied to
the remainder which favors a candidate that is near to the
image center and has symmetric side-points that are near to
their expected values. Acquisition (or recovery) is judged to
have occurred if the same candidate is chosen for three
frames in succession.
E. Actuation
Image-based visual servoing (IBVS) [10] is often the
favored method for controlling this type of system because it
does not require camera calibration and is less sensitive to
uncertainties in the target model than position-based visual
servoing (PBVS). However, IBVS leads to a more difficult
control problem and requires the image Jacobian to be
known or estimated. For instance, Espiau et al [11] consider
how to position a camera with respect to a ‘road’
represented by 3 parallel straight lines, which is rather
similar to the target presented here by the power lines.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
sample no.
Fig. 10 Calibration for lateral displacement at 0.9m above center conductor,
where a0 = -0.382, a1 = 0.00155 and a2 = 0.00413.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The first test was conducted on an ideal target
consisting of three black tapes laid on a plain grey floor,
which produced very strong edges and the expected AHT
pattern of Fig. 8. The AVS pod was flown along the tapes at
a constant velocity and a nominal height of 0.9m, with the
visual servo loop on lateral displacement closed. Fig. 11
shows that the pod is initially offset from the centre
conductor, as measured by both the AVS and the imagery.
When the pod is released at t = 3s, it corrects for the offset
and brings the center conductor to the middle of the image.
When a simulated wind gust is applied, the dynamic
response of the pod is in good agreement with off-line
simulation. Despite the noise on the visual measurement, the
true pod motion is smooth.
testF4 : dyn5 / vid10 results

Recently, Mahony & Hamel [12] have proposed a method of 0.2

from AVS
wind gust
performing this task for an aerial vehicle which avoids 0.15 from image

computing the image Jacobian. Nevertheless, PBVS was off-line simulation

lateral displacement (m)

0.1

selected for this work because the control design problem is 0.05

relatively simple. Data fusion with direct height and 0

displacement measurements from other sources may also be -0.05

-0.1
easier. Calibration is possible here because power lines are
-0.15
constructed within standard tolerances. The calibration -0.2
procedure consisted of flying the pod along a trapezoidal -0.25
profile in a horizontal plane above the conductors and 0 5 10 15
time (s)
20 25 30 35

recording the (ρ, θ) values - see Fig. 10. A polynomial fit to Fig. 11 Closed loop visual servoing on lateral displacement under ideal
the lateral displacement, as measured by the AVS, is : conditions.

636
 The same experiment was now conducted with the pod relative to a set of power conductors. The Aggregated
suspended above the model power lines. Note that, as shown Hough Transform is effective at discriminating the
in Fig. 6, the laboratory floor and walls contain significant conductors in the image. The strategy of tracking in the HT
clutter. Calibration followed the same procedure as space using a rule-based procedure is successful, even with
described in Section IV but with the trapezoidal profile significant clutter in the scene. It should be noted that the
flown in a vertical plane to obtain the height data. A ‘linear tracking filter commonly used in visual servoing was
in the parameters’ fit gives the height calibration: deliberately omitted so that the performance of the ‘raw’
AHT and rule-base could be assessed. In practice, it was
Δzˆ A = b0 + b1 (1 / d ) where d = (d L + d R ) / 2 found that height-hold, being a differential measurement, is
and d L = ( ρC − ρ L )2 + (θC − θ L )2 , d R = ( ρ C − ρ R ) 2 + (θ C − θ R ) 2 sensitive to loss of tracking of just one of the side-lines.
Usually this happened because of glare from the floor, due
The response when both lateral displacement and height to strong oblique sunlight or the overhead arc lights. In field
are controlled by visual feedback is shown in Fig. 12. trials of video inspection of power lines, conducted from a
testL4: mean height= 2.4901m manned helicopter, such strong and uniform upward glare is
150
not prevalent in natural surroundings. Nevertheless, the
angle (deg)

100
robustness of the tracker should be enhanced by introducing
a Kalman or particle filter. The work also demonstrates the
50
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
value of the AVS as a development tool. It is clear that
installation of the software on a real rotorcraft would have
100
required rapid operator intervention to avoid destructive
radius (pixels)

0 failures. The AVS is an effective alternative to field trials for

-100 early development, providing a good degree of realism
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
within a controlled environment and an efficient cycle of
software testing and modification.
lat disp = -0.34315 + 0.0012288 * rho + 0.0040401 * theta
estimated lat disp (m)

0.2 REFERENCES
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