Efficient measurement of power tower based on tilt photography with unmanned aerial vehicle and laser scanning

Abstract

A 3D laser scanning system can achieve the precision of millimetre level in deformation examination of a power line tower; however, it suffers from the high cost of equipment and difficult onsite installation. The Tilt Photography with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TP-UAV) is a relatively lower cost system that offers a more convenient way of 3D measurement; however, with a trade-off of lower measurement accuracy. In order to take advantage of both technologies and improve the measurement accuracy of the TP-UAV system, in this research, a 3D laser scanning system is applied as a calibration means for the TP-UAV to explore the possibility of rapid measurement of the deformation in transmission facilities. A data representation model is proposed for the calibration of the parameters of the TP-UAV system to make use of the accuracy of the 3D laser scanning, and the systematic error of the TP-UAV system can be corrected to improve the measurement accuracy by 35%.