Conducted demonstration experiment to improve efficiency of track equipment inspection using smart drones - Succeeded in autonomous flight of drone over track equipment and transmission of aerial footage -

PRODRONE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, President and CEO: Masakazu Kono, hereinafter PRODRONE) is a joint venture between KDDI Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Makoto Takahashi, hereinafter KDDI) and East Japan Railway Company (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Yuji Fukasawa, hereinafter referred to as KDDI). We cooperated in a demonstration experiment conducted by JR East (JR East) to improve the efficiency of track equipment inspection using smart drones (hereinafter referred to as this demonstration experiment). This demonstration experiment was conducted at a railway maintenance depot on February 4 and February 5, 2020.

Overview of this demonstration experiment

When operating trains at a railway company, it is necessary to ensure safety by inspecting vehicles, track equipment, etc. in the event of an abnormality. To do this, it is necessary to dispatch staff to the site day and night, conduct visual checks, and quickly and accurately communicate information between staff, but this work requires a lot of time and effort. The use of drones is expected to reduce travel time and quickly and accurately assess the situation at the site. In this demonstration experiment, we utilized KDDI's smart drone platform to demonstrate that a drone can fly autonomously over a flight route over railway equipment, and that it is possible to photograph railway equipment using the camera and LED lights installed on the drone and transmit the images to staff in remote locations, day or night. In this demonstration experiment, PRODRONE was responsible for the development of the drone body and flight assistance. In the future, we will work toward actual operation by clarifying the requirements for track equipment inspection using drones and conducting verification in line with specific operational use cases.

PD4-XA1 used in this demonstration experiment

Example of drone aerial footage

For details, please see the KDDI announcement materials. http://news.kddi.com/kddi/corporate/newsrelease/2018/06/14/3202.html