DRB Aero Insulator Testing Robot (AEROINS) is a short research and demonstration project assessing a drone‑mounted robotic solution for testing porcelain and composite high‑voltage insulators on live overhead lines. The method combines a standard UAV, DRB’s crawler payload and the Positron E‑field tester to collect repeatable condition data with far less tower access and manual live‑line intervention. The project will validate whether AEROINS provides a safer, faster and more flexible alternative to labour‑intensive manual testing constrained by outage availability. It will focus on NGET overhead‑line assets where unknown porcelain insulator condition increases asset risk and potential circuit constraints. Findings will inform technical, operational and safety feasibility, asset management, outage dependency and working‑at‑height exposure.

Benefits

The project has the potential to deliver benefits in four main areas.

1. Safety: AEROINS reduces the need for line workers to climb towers and manually operate test equipment near live-line assets. This can reduce working-at-height exposure, manual handling risk and musculoskeletal injury risk.

2. Asset management: The method supports repeatable and digitally captured condition monitoring data for porcelain and composite insulators. This enables better prioritisation of interventions, improved evidence for investment planning and stronger justification for asset replacement or maintenance decisions.

3. Network availability and constraint reduction: If inspections can be performed with the circuit in service, NGET may reduce dependency on outage windows. This can help maintain network capacity, improve delivery flexibility and reduce constraints where outages would otherwise be required.

4. Cost and productivity: DRB's business case indicates that drone/crawler inspection has the potential to materially reduce cost per tested insulator compared with manual or helicopter-based alternatives, while increasing the proportion of accessible insulators. The project will test the practical feasibility of these benefits for NGET.