City of Troy uses drones to transform linework

The City of Troy is taking to the skies with technology, using drones to transform how linemen carry out their daily tasks.

In what used to be a very manual process, drones are helping linemen to move away from the bucket trucks, saving time and redefining inspection, maintenance and repairs.

“It’s just another tool in our toolbox,” said Chase Collins, the UAS director for the City of Troy.

Local utilities were recently awarded the American Public Power Association Deed Grant.

Though Troy has had a drone program established since 2018, the grant will help fund new research projects by using advanced, innovative technology to streamline live line application.

Previously, the drones were used primarily for inspection and mapping. Now, they offer much more, such as knocking nests off lines, assisting in storm damage cleanup and performing preemptive inspections.

“What we're doing is preventive maintenance,” said Frank Duncan, senior drone pilot with City of Troy Utilities. “We’re able to go up there and prevent problems before they happen, much quicker than if we were to send a bucket up there.”

Collins said these drones are one of a kind.

“No other drone out there right now is capable of doing hands-on work,” Collins said.

“We're using it to go up there and take measurements of the wire as a sort of help line of your system.

“It has a grapple to remove debris and a cutter to use in storm events to cut downed power lines.”

City of Troy Utilities has four drones in their fleet, including the Inspired Flight IF1200.

They offer many benefits, such as streamlining tasks, cost-effectiveness and promoting efficiency.

“It's extremely fast,” Collins said. “One person that was doing manual inspections of a pole, they may be able to do about 20 in an hour. Now, we can do a hundred in an hour.”

Collins stressed that the most crucial benefit of this technology is that it promotes safety by taking on dangerous tasks in place of linemen putting their own lives at risk.

“Instead of personnel having to go up in the danger area, we can send the drone if we need to do an inspection,” Collins said.

Duncan said drones also enhance worker safety.

“Every time you go up in a bucket truck, you're taking a chance around electricity,” Duncan said. “These drones not only help the public, but also the guys actually working on it because they can take a look with the drone and not take any risk.”

This technology is not unique to Troy but rather offers an opportunity of collaboration between larger utilities. In a constantly evolving world, Collins said this is just one way to take advantage of the resources available.

“It's all still a learning curve for a lot of us because it's still relatively new technology,” Collins said. “It'll never fully replace um linemen or line women. Still, it's constantly changing, but it's all changing for the good.” Constantly changing, but it's all changing for the good.”