Tokyo Metro has started using drones for tunnel inspections in non-GPS environments such as subway spaces. At the same time, they aim to develop an "autonomous flight drone" that does not require a pilot. Utilization for tunnel inspection started on February 6, 2020 in a tunnel on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon line in cooperation with Basis Consulting Inc. and University of Tokyo (Research Center for Ubiquitous Information Society Infrastructure). Currently, in regular tunnel inspections every two years, they visually inspect the tunnel opening, the shaft and the upper part of the tunnel from on the tracks. Then if there are any abnormalities, they scaffold them and perform a hammering test. When they use drone, they can take photograph close to the inspection part by the aircraft, and confirm the image on the terminal at hand. So it is possible to more accurately narrow down the inspection location and perform inspection efficiently. The drone body size is 22cm square, and to reduce the effect of contact with structures, it is covered with a spherical plastic frame with a diameter of 40cm.
展开▼
