Conducted flight tests to develop performance evaluation standards for unmanned aircraft used in bridge inspections

Prodrone Corporation (Headquarters: Naka-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, President and CEO: Masakazu Kono) is a member of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (Headquarters: Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chairman: Kazuo Furukawa, hereinafter referred to as "NEDO"), Fujitsu Limited (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Tanaka). NEC Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Takashi Niino), Ichthys Research Co., Ltd. (Head office: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Representative Director: Fumitaka Yamazaki), Enroute Co., Ltd. (Head office: Asaka City, Saitama Prefecture, President and CEO: Takigawa) Together with Masayasu), we conducted flight tests in Togane City, Chiba Prefecture to develop performance evaluation standards for unmanned aerial vehicles for bridge inspections. Amid concerns about labor shortages, there is a need to effectively and efficiently conduct infrastructure inspections, which will increase in the future. One such initiative is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to inspect aging bridges, and the establishment of performance evaluation committee standards is an urgent issue. In this test, an unmanned aerial vehicle was flown in a simulated bridge experiment facility to verify the validity of the performance evaluation test method and measurement system required in accordance with the reproduced bridge inspection process, as well as the validity of the test environment for performing flight stability performance evaluations that take into account external disturbances such as wind. We were also able to extract many dangerous signs and conduct experiments that will contribute to future quantification standards. Through future efforts and the data obtained from this test, we will contribute to the formulation of performance evaluation standards for unmanned aerial vehicles used for bridge inspections. For details, please refer to NEDO's presentation materials. http://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_100895.html