Airborne inventory and inspection system and apparatus

• US 7,184,072 B1
• Filed: 09/06/2002
• Issued: 02/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Power View Company, LLC
• Original Assignee: Power View Company, LLC
• Inventors: Reimer, Mark, Loewen, John
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Shawn S.
• Application Number:
  US10/236,837
• Time in Patent Office: 1,635 Days
• Field of Search: 348/144, 348/143, 348/140, 348/141, 348/142, 701/3, 701/4, 382/106
• US Class Current: 348/144
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/02 Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A system and apparatus for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures, equipment attached to said tower structures, and transmission lines suspended from said towers. The system uses a fixed wing aircraft and an arrangement of at least one still camera, means for detecting a tower structure, a data storage unit, and a central processing unit containing operational software. The central processing unit is connected to the camera, the means for detecting a tower structure, and the storage unit. The detection means is a laser altimeter or a combination of preset longitude/latitude coordinates for tower locations and a GPS unit which supplies continuous longitude/latitude coordinates for the aircraft location for comparison to those preset coordinates. The aircraft is flown along the transmission line at a predetermined altitude above the tops of said towers (60–100 feet). The still camera points rearwardly relative to the line of flight of the aircraft and take a picture from between two adjacent towers and along an exposure line directed downwardly at an angle to the line of flight, 30–60 degrees and preferably 45 degrees. The detecting means transmits a signal to the central processing indicative of the presence of a tower to be photographed. The central processing unit calculates the time delay necessary for said aircraft to fly past the tower to a predetermined exposure point located between the tower to be photographed and the next tower in said transmission line after the tower to be photographed. The still camera is activated at the exposure point to acquire an image of the tower structure. The data corresponding to the acquired image is transmitted to a data storage unit for later retrieval and examination to identify defects in the tower or the equipment or transmission lines suspended form the tower. The system is reset to continue acquiring images along the transmission lines. The system is also provided with a video capability to film the towers and transmission lines and the line right-of-way.

Claims

1. A system for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures, equipment attached to said tower structures, and transmission lines suspended from said system utilizing an aircraft and an arrangement of at least one still camera, means for detecting a tower structure, a data storage unit, and a central processing unit containing operational software and connected to said cameras, said means for detecting a tower structure, and said storage unit, said system comprising the steps of:

a, flying said aircraft along the transmission line at a predetermined altitude above the tops of the towers, said aircraft having a line of flight along said transmission line and generally parallel to the horizontal defined by the terrain over which said aircraft is flying,

b, arranging said camera to point rearwardly relative to said line of flight and to take pictures along an exposure line directed downwardly at an angle of less than 90 degrees to said horizontal,

c, generating and transmitting a signal to said central processing indicative of the presence of a tower to be photographed,

d, determining in said central processing unit the time delay necessary for said aircraft to fly past said tower to a predetermined exposure point located between the tower to be photographed and the next tower in said transmission line after the tower to be photographed,

e, activating said still camera at said exposure point to acquire an image of said tower structure,

f, transmitting the data corresponding to said acquired image to said data storage unit, and

g, resetting said system to repeat steps c, d, e, and f for the next tower in said transmission line.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said still camera is a digital camera.

3. The system of claim 2 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit and wherein said detecting means compromises

inputting longitude/latitude coordinates for the towers to be imaged into said central processing unit, and said detecting means further including

generating a signal when the longitude/latitude coordinates of a tower passed by said aircraft correspond to a set of longitude/latitude coordinates for a tower previously input to said central processing unit,

determining the location of the next tower in the line of flight of the aircraft from said previously input longitude/latitude coordinates,

and calculating the time necessary for the aircraft to cover the distance from the location of the aircraft where the signal was received to the point of exposure beyond said next tower.

4. The system of claim 2 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit,

said GPS generating continuous signals of the longitude/latitude coordinates of the position of said aircraft along said transmission line and transmitting said coordinates to said central processing unit and said central processing unit embedding the coordinates for a tower which image has been captured in association with the data for the image of that tower so that when the image of said tower is retrieved from storage the coordinates of that tower are also reproduced on the image.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said GPS is also interconnected with said video camera and said longitude/latitude coordinates are also embedded in association with the respective tower images on said video record.

6. The system of claim 2 including the step of retrieving the image data captured by said still camera and examining said images to detect defects in said towers, equipment supported on said on said towers and said transmission lines.

7. The system of claim 6 including two still cameras and both cameras are activated to capture images of said towers.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said aircraft is flown at an altitude of 60–

100 feet over the tops of said towers.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said aircraft is flown over said transmission lines at a speed of 80–

100 miles per hour.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said exposure line along which said camera takes pictures is directed downwardly at an angle in the range of 30–

60 degrees.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said angle is 45 degrees.

12. The system of claim 1 which also includes at least one video camera and wherein said video camera is directed downwardly toward the transmission lines, and said system includes filming the right-of-way of said transmission line using said video camera, and

transmitting the images captured by said video camera to said storage unit.

13. The system of 12 including the step of displaying the images from said video camera in the area of the cockpit of said aircraft for viewing by the pilot.

14. A system for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures and equipment attached to said tower structures, said system utilizing an aircraft and an arrangement of at least one digital still camera, means for detecting a tower structure, a data storage unit, and a central processing unit containing operational software and connected to said cameras, said means for detecting a tower structure, and said storage unit, said system comprising the steps of:

a, flying said aircraft along said transmission line at an altitude of 60–

100 feet above the tops of the towers, said aircraft having a line of flight along said transmission line and generally parallel to the horizontal defined by the terrain over which said aircraft is flying,

b, arranging said camera to point rearwardly relative to said line of flight and to take pictures along a line directed downwardly at an angle of less than 90 degrees to said horizontal,

c, generating and transmitting a signal to said central processing indicative of the presence of a tower to be photographed,

d, determining in said central processing unit the time delay necessary for said aircraft to fly past said tower to a predetermined exposure point located between the tower to be photographed and the next tower in said transmission line after the tower to be photographed,

e, activating said still camera at said exposure point to acquire an image of said tower structure,

f, transmitting the data corresponding to said acquired image to a data storage unit, and

g, resetting said system to repeat steps c, d, e, and f for the next tower in said transmission line.

15. The system of claim 14 including retrieving the data relating to said still images form said storage and displaying said images for visual inspection of said tower and related equipment for defects.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein said aircraft is flown over said transmission lines at a speed of 80–

100 miles per hour.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein said line along which said camera takes pictures is directed downwardly at an angle in the range of 30–

60 degrees.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein said angle is 45 degrees.

19. The system of claim 14 which also includes at least one video camera and wherein said video camera is directed downwardly toward the transmission lines, and system including filming the right-of-way of said transmission line using said video camera and transmitting the data corresponding to the images captured by said video camera to said storage unit.

20. The system of claim 19 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit,

said GPS generating continuous signals of the longitude/latitude coordinates of the position of said aircraft along said transmission line and transmitting said coordinates to said central processing unit and said central processing unit embedding the coordinates for a tower which image has been captured in association with the data for the image of that tower captured by said video camera so that when the image of said tower is retrieved from storage the coordinates of that tower are also reproduced on the image.

21. The system of claim 14 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit and wherein said detecting means compromises

inputting longitude/latitude coordinates for the towers to be imaged into said central processing unit, and said detecting means further including

generating a signal when the longitude/latitude coordinates of a tower passed by said aircraft correspond to a set of longitude/latitude coordinates for a tower previously input to said central processing unit,

determining the location of the next tower in the line of flight of the aircraft from said previously input longitude/latitude coordinates,

and calculating the time necessary for the aircraft to cover the distance from the location of the aircraft where the signal was received to the point of exposure beyond said next tower.

22. The system of claim 14 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit,

said GPS generating continuous signals of the longitude/latitude coordinates of the position of said aircraft along said transmission line and transmitting said coordinates to said central processing unit and said central processing unit embedding the coordinates for a tower which image has been captured in association with the data for the image of that tower captured by said still camera so that when the image of said tower is retrieved from storage the coordinates of that tower are also reproduced on the image.

23. A system for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures and equipment attached to said tower structures, said system utilizing an aircraft and an arrangement of at still cameras, a GPS unit, a device for detecting a tower structure, and a central processing unit containing operational software and connected to said cameras, and tower detecting device, said system comprising:

a, flying said aircraft along said transmission line at a speed of 80–

100 miles per hour and at an altitude of 80–

100 feet above the tops of said tower structures,

b, detecting the presence of a tower structure,

c, generating a signal in said detecting device when said tower is detected corresponding to the relative position of said aircraft and said tower structure and transmitting that signal to said central processing unit,

d, said central processing unit determining a distance from said point of detection to a preselected point relative to said detected tower structure and the time necessary for the aircraft to traverse that determined distance,

e, transmitting a signal from said central processing unit to said still cameras to activate said still cameras and trigger the shutters thereof when said aircraft has reached said preselected point,

f, transmitting the data corresponding to the images captured by said still camera to a data storage unit, and

g, resetting said system to repeat steps c, d, e, and f for the next tower in said transmission line.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said aircraft has a line of flight generally parallel to the terrain over which said aircraft is flying and wherein said still cameras are arranged to take a picture along a line which is at an angle of substantially 30–

60 degrees to said line of flight.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein said angle is 45 degrees.

26. The system of claim 23 including a video camera and wherein said video camera is arranged to take pictures along a line which is at an angle of substantially 90 degrees to said line of flight and directed downwardly relative to said line of flight.

27. The system of claim 23 wherein said aircraft is flown at a speed of 80–

100 miles per hour.

28. The system of claim 23 wherein said aircraft is flown at a speed of 80–

100 miles per hour.

29. The system of claim 23 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit and generating longitude/latitude coordinates for the tower structures as they are photographed by said still camera, and embedding the longitude/latitude coordinates for the towers in association with the image data for a respective tower so that when the data relating to the image of a particular tower is retrieved the longitude/latitude coordinates for that tower are retrieved along with it.

30. The system of claim 29 including a video camera arranged to take pictures along a line which is at an angle of substantially 90 degrees to said line of flight and directed downwardly relative to said line of flight and wherein said central processing unit embeds the longitude/latitude coordinates for the towers in association with respective towers so that when the data relating to the image of a particular tower is retrieved the longitude/latitude coordinates for that tower are retrieved along with the images.

31. Apparatus for acquiring images of the towers of an electric transmission line, equipment on said towers, and the transmission lines suspended from said towers and comprising, in combination,

an aircraft,

a data collection pod connected to the underside of said aircraft, said data collection pod including:

a housing attached to said fuselage,

a digital still camera supported in said housing,

an open ended channel in said housing extending rearwardly relative to line of flight of said aircraft and at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said aircraft,

said still camera arranged to take pictures through said open ended channel,

a central processing unit on said aircraft and connected to said still camera,

a data storage unit connected to said central processing unit,

means for detecting the presence of a tower along said transmission line and connected to and sending a signal to said central processing unit when a tower is detected, and

said central processing unit determining the time necessary for said aircraft to fly from said point at which said signal is received from said detecting means to an exposure point past said detected tower and before the next tower in said transmission line and operating said still camera at said exposure point to capture an image of said detected tower,

and means for transmitting the data corresponding to the image of said tower to a data storage unit.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said angle of said channel and the exposure line of said camera is 30–

90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of said aircraft.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein said angle is 45 degrees.

34. The apparatus of claim 31 including a GPS unit connected to said central processing unit and providing continuous longitude/latitude coordinates of said aircraft to said central processing unit.

35. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said detecting means is a combination of longitude/latitude coordinates of the respective location of the towers in said transmission line, the continuous longitude/latitude coordinates transmitted by said GPS unit, and means for comparing said first longitude/latitude coordinates to said continuously generated longitude/latitude coordinates to determine when a tower is present.

36. The apparatus of claim 31 including a video camera supported in said housing and directed downwardly from said aircraft to film the towers and terrain over which said aircraft is flying.

37. The apparatus of claim 31 including a first video camera supported in said housing and directed downwardly from said aircraft to film the towers and terrain over which said aircraft is flying and a second video camera supported in said housing and directed forwardly relative to line of flight of said aircraft and downwardly at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said aircraft, both of said video camera operative to film the towers and the terrain over which said aircraft is flying.

38. The apparatus of claim 31 including a display in the area of the cockpit of said aircraft for displaying the images being captured by one of said video cameras to the pilot of said aircraft.