Advantages of Airborne Lidar Technology in Power Line Asset Management

Airborne lidar technology is widely accepted among power utility companies as the most efficient tool for acquiring high-density and high-accuracy geo-referenced spatial data for various applications essential to power line asset management. This paper describes the typical workflow in lidar data collection. It also describes further application steps in the traditional engineering analysis required for power utilities management, including catenary modeling for thermal up-rating and vegetation encroachment analysis. It will be shown that lidar data can have exceptional precision and accuracy, enabling tight-tolerance engineering calculations for power line efficiency modeling. The paper will also briefly discuss change detection in transmission and distribution wires themselves, the underlying surface terrain and surrounding vegetation throughout the transmission corridor, and how lidar technology can help to address monitoring issues. Finally, the performance advantages of airborne laser terrain mapper (ALTM) systems are discussed in the context of applications related to power line asset management.