Technology and Application of Overhead Transmission Line Corridor Inspection

The efficiency and quality of overhead transmission line corridor inspection make a close connection to the operation of the whole electrical power system. In this paper, we summarized three common modes of line inspection and analyzed their characteristics. The technologies applied in line inspection are studied and the examples are given. Additionally, it is suggested that further research should be conducted in the cooperative line inspection (helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle and manual work) with LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and overhead line monitoring system to fulfill the digital and visual-reconstruction power transmission grid. Applying big data technologies, such as data warehouse, distributed processing, data mining to save and analyze inspection data is a required trend. On-line monitoring data and detection data give us a method to provide support for transmission line state evaluation and decision-making advice. Thus the technology of corridor inspection and the better data mining will influence the transmission line state inspection and promote the level of transmission line operation management.