Development of a helicopter mounted eye-safe laser radar system for distance measurement between power transmission lines and nearby trees

Abstract

To measure the accurate distance between high voltage power transmission lines and trees and to fell nearby obstructing trees are important tasks of an electric power company. An on-board eye-safe laser radar system which can accurately measure distance between these two objects has been developed. An eye-safe wavelength of the laser operating at 1.572μm was used for the safety of the human cornea. The constructed system can be mounted on the helicopter for the general tour of the inspection as it is compact, light weight, and low average dissipation. The distance on the opposite side of the flight position can be measured at the same time. This system can be applied to all grade of transmission lines(500kV_??_66kV). The distance accuracy below ±93cm was obtained.