A survey of intelligent transmission line inspection based on unmanned aerial vehicle

With the development of the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data are gradually becoming powerful engines of the smart grid. In recent years, people have been exploring how to reduce the dependence on human experience in the field of transmission line inspection. Therefore, transmission line inspection has attracted wide attention because of its high intelligence, flexibility and reliability. In this paper, we would like to present a survey on the intelligent transmission line inspection based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Firstly, the origin and development of intelligent electric power inspection are reviewed, and then the process of intelligent transmission line inspection and three key issues, i.e., path planning of UAV, trajectory tracking, and fault detection and diagnosis are presented in details. Finally, the challenges and future solutions are pointed out for power inspection.