power line inspection saudi — Power infrastructure

The utility inspects 410 kilometres of 380 kV transmission line in a region where helicopters are grounded for part of the year and rope access is slow and expensive. An automated corridor flight along the line centre, captured by an RTK-fixed platform with a zoom payload, replaces the visual pass with a repeatable one. Flights are planned from the line geometry rather than flown manually, which means each inspection produces the same image set regardless of the pilot, and the imagery feeds a defect-detection model that flags corrosion, broken insulator strings and vegetation encroachment. The reported saving is 64 per cent against helicopter inspection and a corresponding drop in the number of personnel exposed to high-voltage environments to near zero.