Transmission lines rights-of-way mapping using a low-cost drone photogrammetry

Electric transmission towers are facilities to transport electrical power from a plant to an electrical substation. The towers are connected using wires considering the wire tension and the clearance from the ground or nearby objects. The wires are installed on a rights-of-way that is a strip of land used by electrical utilities to maintain the transmission line facilities. Trees and plants around transmission lines must be managed to keep the operation of these lines safe and reliable. This study proposed the use of a low-cost drone photogrammetry for the transmission line rights-of-way mapping. Aerial photogrammetry is carried out to generate a dense point cloud around the transmission lines from which a DSM (Digital Surface Model) and DTM (Digital Terrain Model) are created. The lines and nearby objects are separated using nDSM (normalized Digital Surface Model) and the noises are suppressed in the multiple image space for the geospatial analysis. The experimental result with drone images over two spans of transmission lines on a mountain area showed that the proposed method successfully generate the rights-of-way map with hazard nearby objects.