Web Application for Planning, Monitoring, and Controlling Autonomous Inspection Drones

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones have been used extensively in various applications, such as linear infrastructure inspection tasks, due to their ability to monitor large areas more securely at lower cost. To perform autonomous inspection missions, we need a system that carries out at least three main tasks: path planning, monitoring, and controlling. In this study, we introduce a web application framework that covers these three tasks in the context of inspecting a particular type of linear infrastructure, power pylons. The web interface communicates with drones through a publish-subscribe messaging system and relies on a back end service for computing optimal routes along the infrastructure. We implemented the framework and validated the qualitative and the quantitative aspects of the web application and its communication link between the drone and the server in both simulated and real environments. The web interface allows the user to control and monitor the drones in real time. The overall architecture of the designed platform is illustrated along with a use case.