ICIIBMS 2017, Track 2: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Human-Computer Interaction, Okinawa, Japan

Autonomous Flight Drone for Infrastructure (Transmission line) Inspection (2)

Shido Sato, Takashi Anezaki

National Institute of Technology Okinawa College

Our laboratory is developing a “GPS- non-GPS integrated navigation” system for automatic inspection of transmission power
lines using drones. However, if the number of flying drones continue to increase, traffic rules must be enforced. Therefore, we
formulated UTM rules for collision avoidance. We studied methods for collision avoidance based on three scenarios; namely,
front collision, takeoff and landing, and two-way traffic.

(Keywords: Drone, UTM, collision avoidance, infrastructure, inspection)

transmission line inspection. Further, as more drones will be

1. Background
used in the future, it will be necessary to develop a system
Drones are currently being used for a wide range of for controlling drone traffic.
applications, such as for the i-Construction initiative and
public surveys [1] conducted by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and for surveillance
and for crop-dusting operations [2]. For these purposes,
drones are controlled either by a pilot through an FPV, or
drones fly autonomously by estimating self-position using
GPS. GPS data, however, can become faulty under bridges,
inside tunnels, or near high-voltage power lines [3], which
could lead to drone flight errors. To address this issue, our
laboratory is developing a system for conducting
infrastructure inspections using drones that basically use ᅗ 1.1 Age-specific electric wire overhead wire/
GPS for autonomous flight control, but can also estimate Number of construction workers
self-position through image processing when GPS cannot be
used under situations such as those mentioned above.
2. Objectives

In particular, we are developing a drone system aimed at
performing automatic inspections of transmission lines.
According to the National Tax Agency of Japan, transmission
lines have a lifespan of 40 years [4], and the transmission
lines built during the postwar rapid economic growth period
require regular inspections. However, in the midst of the
increasing demand for overhead power line engineers to
perform maintenance and inspection of transmission lines,
there is a decreasing number of young power line engineers
as a whole, as shown in Figure 1.1 [5]. Also, inspection by
power line engineers requires temporarily stopping power
transmission and is more laborious. These issues highlight
the importance of using drones—which do not rely on power
line engineers and do not require the stopping of power—for
The unmanned aerial systems traffic management (UTM)
is a drone technology that provides a mechanism for real-
time monitoring of aerial drone flight positions and integrated
management of drones through an IT system to enable
multiple drones to safely fly past each other without colliding.
It is also referred to as the “drone traffic control system.”
Presently, however, no country has an established UTM
system, and various organizations throughout the world are
still in the process of developing such a system [6] [7]. As the
number of drones flying in airspace increases, it becomes
imperative to construct a certain traffic control system for
preventing collisions and other accidents. This led us to
formulate and determine rules to be adopted for the UTM
system.

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 ᅗ 2-1 Problems with autonomous flight using GPS

3. Premises for the UTM rules

As a premise, the rules are intended for drone traffic
control. [8] In particular, airspace for drone flight will be
restricted based on altitude and location. In this study, we
formulated traffic rules for altitudes between 200 ft. to 400 ft.,
which is estimated to be beyond the visual observation range
of a pilot and in which traffic control from outside the drone
is possible.
Also, it is assumed that multiple drones equipped with
GPS can be operated through a stick PC and are connected
to one server through communication lines.
In this study, we developed UTM rules for three scenarios;
namely, collision avoidance UTM, takeoff/landing UTM, and
two-way traffic UTM.
ᅗ 4-1 Collision avoidance region
ࠑ4㺃2ࠒ Collision-avoidance through takeoff/landing UTM
The takeoff/landing UTM tackles avoidance of collision of
drones that takeoff from the same base station, travel along
a fixed path, and land on the same base station.
The takeoff/landing UTM carries out control by prioritizing
incoming drones, which are considered to have lower
remaining battery charge. The airspace above the base
station is designated as the takeoff/landing zone, within
which only one drone is allowed to fly.

4. Construction of UTM

ࠑ4㺃1ࠒ Collision avoidance UTM

The front collision UTM tackles avoidance of collisions
during emergency situations wherein drones come in
proximity to each other to a point wherein they might actually
collide.
A fixed circular domain is defined around the drone during ᅗ 4-4 Takeoff and landing zone
flight.
When multiple drone domains overlap during flight, the Also, flight is allowed when there are no drones in the
server sends collision-avoidance instructions (such as airspace within a 30-m radius and within the takeoff/landing
velocity reduction and direction change) based on GPS data zone. When the timing of takeoff and landing overlaps, i.e.,
to control drone flight so that the domains do not overlap. there is another drone within the said zones, takeoff is not
After the drones are out of each other’s domains, and it is permitted until the drone disappears from the zone, or until
determined that there is no further danger of collision, the the incoming drone has landed.
drones return to GPS autonomous flight control and continue
in their original flight path.

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 ᅗ 4-5 Priority 6. Acknowledgement

Part of this research was funded through the Ministry of

Internal Affairs and Communication SCOPE budget
ࠑ4㺃3ࠒ Collision avoidance through two-way traffic UTM
(No.152311004)
The two-way traffic UTM tackles avoidance of collision
when drones are flying in parallel directions.
Inbound and outbound flying zones of different altitudes
are assigned, with two lanes on each flying zone. The two
lower-altitude lanes are used for inbound drones. When the References
timing of landing overlaps in the two lanes of the inbound (1) Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI): “Manual for public
zone, the drone flying in the lower-altitude lane is given surveys using UAV” (Proposal)
(http://www.gsi.go.jp/common/000186712.pdf) 2017 [in Japanese]
priority to land.
(2) Nihon Keizai Shimbun: “Use of drones for crop-dusting” (July 25,
2017) [in Japanese]
(3) Atsushi Tsuchiya, Hiromichi Tsuji: “New and Easy GPS Surveying”
Japan Association of Surveyors (2017) [in Japanese]
(4) National Tax Agency: “Appendix on handling notifications regarding
the applications of service life”
(https://www.nta.go.jp/shiraberu/zeiho-
kaishaku/tsutatsu/kobetsu/sonota/700525/fuhyou/04.htm) [in
Japanese]
(5) Statistics Bureau: “Population and average age of employed persons
15 years old and over by employment (sub-classification), age (five-
year age group), and sex (total and employee) (For one-person
ᅗ 4-6 Lane separation households and independent spouses of residents of Self-Defense
Forces barracks) – Nationwide” (http://www.e-
stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/eStatTopPortal.do 2013) [in Japanese]
When two drones flying in the same direction at different (6) JUTM: “About the JUTM: Japan UTM Consortium”
speeds approach one another, the drone behind is to slow (http://www.jutm.org/about.html) 2017 [In Japanese]
(7) DRONE BORG: “Cloud-based drone air traffic control system UTM
down. Overtaking is not allowed. developed by NASA” [in Japanese]
(https://www.borg.media/nasa-utm-drone-system/) 2017
(8) Ogido et al.: “Proposed Integrated Drone Navigation and
Autonomous Flight System for Aerial Inspection and Surveillance of
Infrastructure Objects,” IEEJ Transactions on Industry Applications
136 (10), 753-759 2016 [in Japanese]

ᅗ 4-7 No overtaking

Providing two lanes each in the two-way traffic UTM

enables more drones to fly at the same time, increasing
efficiency of movement. However, since the above UTM
rules are envisioned for an altitude between 200 ft. to 400 ft.,
increasing the number of lanes beyond two for each flying
zone could increase the possibility of collision when drones
move sideways due to strong winds. Thus, a maximum of
only two lanes is provided for each direction.

5. Summary

 In this study, we formulated three types of UTM rules to be

used in the system for drones designed to perform inspection
of infrastructures (transmission lines). Going forward, we will
construct UTM systems and evaluate problems in the
formulated UTM rules based on actual flight experiments.

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