Development of autonomous power line inspection technology uBird

About this project

<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt"><span style="color: #000000">Hepta is an Estonian company </span></span>that provides easily deployable end-to-end inspection solution for large networks: from smart software and rich analytics to hands-on support from specialists and hardware facilitation.&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt"><span style="color: #000000">The monitoring and inspection of power lines has a fundamental role in mitigating electric supply risks, as the mandatory inspections provide essential input for maintenance plans and increase the safety of the critical infrastructure. In order to reduce inspection costs and overcome the shortcomings of traditional inspection methods, power network operators have started to implement unmanned aerial vehicle in inspection work. There are however significant technological bottlenecks present which prevent utilizing such technology. State-of-the-art inspection methods cannot cover large areas in a short period of time and at a reasonable price. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt"><span style="color: #000000">The main objective of the project is to develop the first turnkey end-to-end inspection technology, which automates the power inspections and the following inspection data analysis for large areas. Technology has reached minimum viable product (MVP) phase and first commercialisation efforts have started in order to validate the concept and gain market traction. However, to maximise the value of the technology and scale the solution, further development is needed. In addition, Hepta will develop data processing platform and digital twin of power line maintenance called uBird, which will widen Hepta’s reach even further. The objective of the project is to complete fully functional autonomous power grid inspection system technology for full scale commercialisation by upgrading the inspection process and automating data analysis and delivery of the results. </span></span></p>

Bilateral cooperation results

Throughout the Norway Green ICT project Hepta worked with the partner ICB Digital. The cooperation can be considered productive. As Project Promoter Hepta developed the software solutions for digitalisation and efficient inspection of the power grids, ICB was mainly involved as a software development partner. All input regarding the tasks to work on was from Hepta and ICB was involved in parts of the software development tasks. Partner had regular meetings to review the work that has been done and plan forthcoming tasks.

Project partners

• ICB Digital AS Donor project partner· Norway