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The Importance Of Transmission Lines

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Transmission Lines The world’s power lines are linked by tall steel structures known as transmission towers. If these Eiffel Tower–shaped edifices are knocked down or damaged, whole sections of a country can go dark. In 2012 flooding and downed power lines caused by Hurricane Sandy led to major blackouts that affected more than 8 million people along the Eastern Seaboard. But conducting routine maintenance on these transmission towers can be costly, time-consuming, and even dangerous for workers. With the use of drones, utility companies won’t need to send human workers in helicopters or trucks to conduct manual inspections. The smart grid has become more airborne on the wings of drone technology. This technology is set to change the …show more content…

Unfortunately, it is a turbulent time for drones, and politically, there are issues slowing down the rapid adoption of this technology. It is hard to buck a technological trend that is gaining momentum and whose time has come. Cost Global spending on drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as many in the industry prefer them to be called, is growing at a fantastic rate. The Teal Group, a market research company, reported the world spent about $4 billion on UAVs in 2015 and projects UAV spending will increase to more than $14 billion by 2024. If the payloads UAVs carry — such as heat sensors, LiDAR, communications, and infrared sensors and electro-optics — are included in the 2015 spending, the amount increases by an additional $3.1 billion. The problem is that, commercially, drone laws vary greatly from country to country, state to state and city to city. It is a hodgepodge of rules, regulations and laws. The European Union (EU) has been trying to consolidate regulations for all members, but it is a slow process. Within

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