506 / 2022-03-24 19:08:41

Optical monitoring and path extraction for Lightning Strike of Transmission Lines

lightning strike,transmission line,optical monitoring,path extraction

Lightning activity is one of the key factors that cause transmission line failure. However, only time and coordinate of lightning strike were detected and recorded through lightning location system as a common practice for lightning-induced transmission lines failure analysis. Therefore, the authors conducted exhaustive research and development on lightning optical monitoring device to obtain visual observation of the occurrence and development of lightning strike.

Based on physical characteristics of lightning strike, the device is designed to be consisted of lightning picture acquisition unit, environmental parameter acquisition unit, data processing unit, communication unit, and power supply unit. Equipped with three appropriative cameras, this lightning optical monitoring device is capable of recording 360° high resolution panoramas and providing 3km vision range when installed on the top of transmission tower. Additional efforts were made to offer not only working mode but also sleep mode to remain available for at least one week.

Corresponding lightning path extraction algorithm was developed to distinguish and extra lightning strike path from complex environment background. Distant crash of thunder, especially for its tiny branches of lightning, is probably to be drown in background noise like rain, fog, and cloud. Preprocessing, segmentation, and morphological processing were subsequently applied to deal with fuzzy lightning images in different scenarios. Lightning image database was established to help with recognition accuracy improvement.

A comprehensive understanding of the interaction between lightning and transmission line will be promoted through the cooperation of lightning optical monitoring devices and path extraction algorithm.