NetherDrone: a tethered and ducted propulsion multirotor drone for complex underground mining stope inspections

Abstract

Underground stope mapping is crucial to evaluate the quantity of blasted rock and the site integrity. In recent years, lidar-equipped drones have been used to map stopes with higher precision and without blind spots. However, they have limitations, such as large size, challenging lidar positioning on the drone, limited flight time for detailed visual inspections, and unreliable communication underground. This paper discusses the development of a compact tethered drone called the NetherDrone, specifically designed for stope inspections. The NetherDrone uses custom ducted propulsion to increase thrust efficiency by 50%. It reduces the propellers’ diameter and overall frame while maintaining an adequate lifting capability with low power consumption. The drone features an onboard 120 m tether spool for communication and power transmission, as well as a rotating arm to deploy the cable and reduce yaw moments from the tether tension. Flights in a real stope demonstrated that the drone could effectively move at least 50 m deep into a complex stope, complete a detailed lidar scan, visually scan one face of the stope in close proximity during 20 min, travel a total distance of 270 m, and maintain communications with an operator at all times through the tether.